


Change of Fate

by Pixie_Ray



Category: Avatar (2009)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Brother-Sister Relationships, Developing Friendships, F/M, Family Bonding, Flute playing, Harry Potter References, Healing, Hurt/Comfort, Music, Na'vi language, Omnia, POV Multiple, References to the Beatles, Romance, Shamanism, guitar playing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-03
Updated: 2019-02-14
Packaged: 2019-10-21 10:03:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 27,377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17640680
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pixie_Ray/pseuds/Pixie_Ray
Summary: After a tragic incident in the family, Danielle Sully and her brother Jake travel together to the mysterious alien world of Pandora. Soon after they arrive, they encounter the Na’vi and embark on an incredible adventure that will change their fate and their new home forever.





	1. Prologue

**For my friend, Ashleigh**

* * *

 

_ My name is Danielle Sully although everyone calls me Danny. I am the youngest in my family with my twin brothers, Jake and Tommy, being a few years older than me. We were close growing up  even though we had our personality differences. _

_ Tommy and I were the ‘science nerds’ as Jake called us. We were always geeking out over a latest  scientific breakthrough, like when a group of biologists in China where able to clone a litter of tiger cubs back into existence after having been extinct for over a century.  We’d even stay up late at night to watch TV shows about the faraway world of Pandora; an organically rich moon that orbited a gas planet, Polyphemus, in the Alpha Centauri star system. _

_ I loved learning about Pandora. Tommy and I both dreamed of going there one day. The wild alien plants and animals that lived there fascinated me. But what I loved most was the abundant color of green I saw. I never thought that so much color could exist in one place because the world I grew up in was colorless and dying.  _

_ Pandora was similar to Earth before it became overpopulated and polluted. Humanity had completely ravaged and depleted Earth of its natural bounty, unable to support its 20 billion inhabitants. So humans turned to Pandora for its resources; its abundance of minerals and organic compounds were able to make the continuation of life on Earth possible with energy and medicines.  _

_ One of the main reasons I wanted to go to Pandora was to study medicine. I studied hard and excelled in school, graduating at an early age with a PhD in biomedicine. I wanted to make a difference. I wanted to save lives. My determination and perseverance to become a doctor was because of my mother, who we had lost to lung cancer when I was nine years old. _

_ My mother was a single parent. Our father had abandoned her when I was a baby, leaving her to raise three children by herself. What I admired most about her was that she always had a carefree laugh and a joyful smile even while she worked tirelessly to ensure we had a roof over our heads. She was a history teacher and was always telling us stories about Earth’s past, especially about music and books.  _

_ My brothers and I were devastated when she died. It was hard growing up without parents but we promised one another that we would be there for each other no matter what.  _

_ After I gained an early admission into college, Jake enlisted in the Marine Corps and shipped out overseas while Tommy received acceptance into the avatar program at the Resources Development Administration. I worked my butt off so I could join Tommy at the RDA, hoping to get a spot in the avatar program so that I could go with him to Pandora.  _

_ The RDA’s avatar program, after a few years of training, enabled a select group of scientists to freely explore and study the perilous environment of Pandora without endangering their lives. Most of the preparation involved learning to drive remotely controlled bodies called avatars, created from a combination of human DNA and the DNA of the indigenous Pandorean people, The Na’vi.   _

_ I hoped I would get the opportunity to meet the Na’vi;  the idea of meeting an alien race was thrilling. They were vastly different from us humans - being super tall, feline-like, and having blue striped skin. They were also a paleolithic people who lived in harmony with nature which I thought was pretty cool.  _

_ My dream to join the program finally came true following my graduation. After doing several tests and evaluations the RDA granted my admission. I’ll never forget the day when Tommy came home with my acceptance letter with a big smile and said “Guess who’s going to Pandora?”  I had never been so ecstatic! _

_ A year and a half later into my avatar training, Tommy and I received news that Jake had been badly injured in the war taking place in South America and was now paraplegic. We brought him home to help him adapt to his new life in a wheelchair. Jake was awfully stubborn about it though, rejecting our help and insisting that he could take care of himself and didn’t need to be babysat.  _

_ The one setback about going to Pandora was leaving Jake behind. In our last months of our avatar training Jake’s behavior had gone downhill. I knew he was angry about his condition and that the life he had built for himself had come crashing down. When he came back home he spent most of his time at bars drinking and starting fights, sometimes having to be bailed out of jail by Tommy.  _

_ I could see the rift forming between my brothers when Tommy argued with Jake about getting his act together before he and I shipped out. It scared me to see my family beginning to break apart after we had been so close. I wanted to find a way to bring my family back together again before we left, even wishing for a way we could bring Jake with us to Pandora.  _

_ My wish later came true in a rather unfortunate and unexpected way... _


	2. One Life Ends, Another Begins

_All the people are crying_

_Because of a crazy life_

_Mother, mother, are you crying?_

_Mother, mother life_

**[Babu Bawu - OMNIA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hJYblOugNk) **

 

* * *

 

My eyes felt bleary and dry as I cracked them open, greeted by the seafoam green interior of my practice link module. I just completed my last avatar link simulation and instead of feeling exhausted like I normally did I was almost giddy with excitement.

Know why? ‘Cause it meant that next week I would finally be shipping out to Pandora!

My excitement was stifled though as I pushed the lid of my link module open, my stiff arm muscles aching in protest. Muscle fatigue was a common side-effect of prolonged link time but the simulations were mandatory as they prepared the avatar trainees for the physical  experience of operating the avatar body.

The simulations basically involved having your brain hooked into a video game setting where you could move around and interact with a virtual version of Pandora’s environment minus the dangers. Aside from the side-effects, it was pretty cool but I could hardly wait to try the real thing.

When the lid opened I found the familiar face of Michael staring down at me. He was one of the medical technicians who monitored my vital signs during my linkage.

“Have fun?” He asked as he downloaded my final link information from my module to his handheld data tablet for review.

I snorted. “Oh yeah, sure. Nothing beats the virtual Pandora calisthenics program. Soooo much fun.”

He chuckled at my sarcasm. “That’s what we love to hear.”

I gingerly sat up on the mod bed so that my legs dangled over the edge and rubbed my shoulders while I watched Michael attend to the other link mod next to me. With a few taps on the module’s workstation the unit deactivated and the lid opened, revealing my teammate and friend, Norm Spellman.

“S’up Neville?” I grinned as he got up from the module. In case you were wondering, I’m a Harry Potter FANATIC. My mom used to read her old hard copy of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone to me when I was little and I was hooked ever since. I liked nicknaming my friends after characters from the stories even though they had no idea what I was talking about. Hardly anybody had actually heard of Harry Potter since it was like a forgotten treasure of Earth’s literary past.

Luckily Norm was a bit of an HP nerd himself. I was happy I finally had someone to geek out with over the Wizarding World.

He rolled his eyes at me. “Hey Crookshanks.”

I crossed my arms, pretending to be offended. “I thought we agreed on Hermione as my nickname, not Hermione’s cat.” We had been having this dispute for months now. I always resonated with Hermione’s character since we were kinda similar in some ways, like having our noses always in a book and learning new things.

“And I thought we agreed that mine was gonna be Newt Scammander.”

“Yeah but you’re more of a plant guy,” I said, “Newt was more into magical creatures than Neville was.”

“Exactly! Newt’s way more cooler than Neville.” Norm argued.

“You guys are weird,” Michael muttered as he walked off with his data tablet to do a final review with the other technicians.

Norm and I looked at each other.

“They just don’t understand.” He said.

“Sadly not.”

Norm reached for his water bottle next to his link mod for a drink as I continued with my neck massage while we waited for our final results.

“Where’s Tom?” Norm asked, “I’d thought he’d be here.”

“He did his final simulation yesterday. He told me earlier that he was going to do some more Na’vi language review today.”

Norm chuckled. “Is he worried that he’s going to forget the language overnight?”

“Knowing my brother, probably.”

“You guys have any plans before the big ship out day next week?”

I shook my head. “Nope. Just packing and making sure Jake doesn’t do anything stupid while we’re gone, which will probably fail epically.”

“How’s he doin’?”

I sighed. “Not great. He got into another fight last week. Now he and Tommy won’t speak to each other. He doesn’t say it but I know he doesn’t like that we’re leaving and I don’t like leaving him behind like this. I just don’t know what to do for him.”

Norm put the cap of his water bottle back on. “I’m sure he’ll be okay; those military types are pretty tough.”

I twisted my lips to the side, wishing I could share in his optimism. Jake may be tough but he wasn’t invincible. His injuries from the war in South America proved that much. I worried. What if something even worse happened to him during the twenty years Tommy and I were gone?

I wished I didn’t have to leave him behind at all.

“Alright you two,” Michael said, interrupting my thoughts when he returned, “everything checks out. You’re all set for Pandora.”

“What was our final link time?” Norm asked.

“You got a record breaking total of five hundred and twenty hours.”

I whistled. “Wow Norm, is this all you ever did in your spare time?”

“Hey, it doesn’t hurt to be prepared.”

“Over-prepared you mean. What was my score?”

“Four hundred and five.” Michael said.

I hummed, feeling satisfied with my total. “Not too shabby for someone who’s only had two years of training.”

Norm smirked. “I still got your beat by a hundred and fifteen hours.”

It was my turn to roll my eyes. “Whatever, show off.”

Just then the intercom buzzed and a monotone female voice spoke. “Attention. Doctor Danielle Sully, please report to Doctor Collins’s office. Doctor Danielle Sully to Doctor Collins.”

I frowned slightly. Huh. That was weird. I’ve never heard the director of the avatar training program ever randomly calling trainees into his office before and I wondered what it could be about.

There was a twinge in my gut but I ignored it.

“What was that all about?” Norm asked, looking at me.

I shrugged. “Dunno…but I guess I better find out.” I hopped off the bed and stretched, feeling a few satisfying pops in my back. “Well, Michael,” I said as I held out my hand, “it’s been fun.”

Michael took my hand and shook it with a proud smile. “It was great having you Danny. Stay safe out there and good luck. Maybe bring us back some souvenirs?”

I laughed. “I’ll see what I can do.”

Norm came up to me then and gave me a hug goodbye. “ _Eywa ngahu_ Danny. Say hi to Tom for me.”

“Will do. See ya!”

I grabbed my backpack and water bottle and left the link room. I pushed through the bustling crowds of the RDA’s science division to get to the director’s office, sidestepping people in business suites and doctors in white lab coats along the way. I stuck out like a sore thumb in my athletic wear but I didn’t mind.

At last I made it to the top floor of the building. Through the glass door of his office, I saw Doctor Collins, a slim man with greying hair and thick rimmed glasses, sitting behind his desk and reviewing something on a data tablet. I tapped on the door and he waved me in.

I had only been inside Doctor Collins a handful of times throughout my avatar training. It wasn’t anything special. Behind his desk was a large window that overlooked the city and a couple pictures of Pandora hung from the walls. Filing cabinets filled most of the space with some of their drawers slightly ajar with papers sticking out and even more files were stacked up on the desk.

It was organized chaos.

“You wanted to see me, sir?” I asked. I noticed a grim expression on the doctor’s face. That was unusual. Every time I saw him around he was always in a cheerful mood.

The twinge in my gut intensified.  

Doctor Collins stood up from the desk and shook my hand in greeting. “Miss Sully, how wonderful to see you again. Although, I wish it was under more pleasant circumstances.”

I felt my brow furrow. And since when was I ‘Miss Sully’ to him? “What do you mean?”

Doctor Collins motioned for me to sit in a chair at his desk. “Please, sit down.”

I did as I was told, quickly parking myself in one of the chairs in front of the desk and plopping my backpack on the ground beside me. I heard the pitter patter of raindrops hitting the window as it started to rain outside.

The suspense was killing me as we sat in awkward silence for a moment. Doctor Collins seemed at a loss for words for whatever he brought me here to talk about. What the hell was going on? Oh my god. Did I do something wrong? Was it my testing? Or worse. Were they not going to let me to go Pandora after all?

But what Doctor Collins was about to say was far worse than anything I thought.

“I’m sorry to inform you” he finally said, “that your brother, Thomas, is dead.”

* * *

 

All the jumbled traffic and pedestrian packed streets were a muddled blur to me as I numbly stared out the window of Doctor Collins’s car. He was personally driving me to the municipal crematorium where Tommy’s body was.

Tommy was dead.

The words kept repeating in my head over and over again like a mantra but I couldn’t make sense of them. I _didn’t_ want them to make sense because how could my brother, my sweet, kind hearted Tommy, be gone?

The crematorium loomed overhead like a grim reaper as the car finally pulled up in front of it. It was a dimly lit building with smoke pouring out its ventilation shafts which made me feel sick to my stomach.

I flung the car door open and ran inside, not even bothering to say goodbye to Doctor Collins. All I wanted was to see my brother.

Some small part of me hoped that this was all just some sort of mixup and that Tommy wasn’t really dead.

But hope was in vain.

I halted when I entered a long steely grey chamber. The high metal walls were lined with furnaces that seemed to go on forever. Cremators wearing ashy, rubber dry suits moved about the cavernous room. Some of them pushed flatbed carts with cardboard coffins to the furnaces while others cleaned out the soot from inside.

The smell of the air was nauseating and burned the inside of my nose. It was a mixture of smoke, disinfectant, and something akin to burnt toast.

I tried to ignore the urge to puke.

“I-I’m looking for Tom?” my voice called out with uncertainty, “Tom Sully?”

One of the workers, an older man, waved to me from a few feet away. “Over here, ma’am.”

I hesitated, trying to swallow the hard lump in my throat when I saw him standing next to an elongated box already resting upon a table in front of an open furnace.

No.

_Please_ , no.

“You Danielle Sully?” The cremator asked when I approached. I nodded.

“They told me you would be coming,” he said, “we don’t normally do this but I guess your boss pulled a few strings.” He lifted the lid on the cardboard box and pulled back the black plastic sheet.

I could no longer hold back the sob I had been suppressing.

There was Tommy. Pale and cold. He looked as though he was sound asleep but after seeing the body of my mother after she died, I knew that he would never wake up again.

“Tommy,” I cried, clutching the edge of the cardboard as tears dripped from my face and onto the plastic.

The world around me seemed to collapse on itself.

I had just seen him only hours ago, laughing and full of life, and now he was dead. He and Jake practically raised me after our mom died. Tommy taught me everything. I _owed_ him everything. How could he be taken away from me now, when we were supposed to go to Pandora together?

From what Doctor Collins had told me, Tommy had taken a break from his studies and left to go get a cup of coffee. On his way back, a guy walked up to him and shot him point blank right in the middle of the street. When Tommy hit the ground the guy took his wallet and ran off.

Anger boiled in the pit of my stomach at the injustice of it all. Humanity had turned Earth into such an unforgiving world - violence and cruelty were commonplace and everyone just accepted it instead of doing something about it.  

And so the mugger had escaped, taking away all that Tommy would ever be, and nobody tried to stop him.

“Ma’am,” I looked up and saw the cremator holding out a clipboard and pen, needing me to sign the death certificate.

I blinked, sniffed, and wiped my eyes with my coat sleeve before reaching for the certificate. I stared at it for a moment. It was wrong. All of this was wrong. Tommy deserved a better  memorial instead of being shoved into box to be incinerated and forgotten like he was nothing.

Everyone deserved better than that.

My hands trembled as I signed my name, my handwriting barely legible. When I handed the clipboard back to the man I heard a familiar voice behind me.

“Danny,”

I turned to see Jake rolling towards me in his wheelchair. He had a fresh bruise blossoming on his right cheek and had a scratch on his left temple that had just stopped bleeding, obviously having gotten into another bar fight. Two men trailed behind him, wearing neutral expressions and black trench coats. I recognized them - they were RDA agents, Scott and Rawlins, whom I had met before during my avatar training. They must have been dispatched to find Jake and brought him to the crematorium to be with me.

Jake wrapped a strong arm around my waist when he reached me, becoming my anchor in the sea of my despair as we both looked into the cardboard box that held our brother.

“Jesus, Tommy.” Jake murmured when he saw his twin lying dead.

As the cremator covered Tommy’s body back up with plastic and closed the lid, the two RDA agents, who had been quiet and awkwardly standing off to the side, broke their silence.

The one named Rawlins, a burly man with gelled ebony hair, began first. “Jake,” he said, “your brother represented a significant investment, as you well know Danielle. We’d like you to consider taking over his contract.”

The other man, Scott, who was thinner than Rawlins and had sandy colored hair, chimed in. “And since your genome is identical to his, you could step into his shoes…so to speak.”

The RDA wanted Jake to take over Tommy’s Avatar and join the program on Pandora? I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Here was my family, broken and mourning the loss of our brother and all these guys cared about was how they could save money.

I wanted to tell Scott and Rawlins to shut the fuck up and give us a moment of peace but I couldn’t bring myself to words anymore. Instead, a fresh wave of hot tears spilled down my cheeks as Tommy’s synthetic coffin was lifted up and into the furnace.

How could this even be happening?

“It’ll be a fresh start, on a new world,” Rawlins continued, “you can do something important. You can make a difference.”

Jake pulled me down so that I sat on his lap as we watched the sealed chamber flood with a red-hot fire, consuming what was inside like a hungry animal.

“And the pay is good,” Scott added.

“Very good.”

I tore my gaze away from the furnace and buried my face in the crook of Jake’s neck, my tears staining his t-shirt. Maybe it was cowardly but I just couldn’t bare to watch Tommy being turned to ash before my eyes. It hurt too much.  

Jake remained silent and held onto me tightly as I cried while he continued to stare into the roaring flames.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Greetings!
> 
> I'm excited to share this story here! Hopefully this is a fresh approach to the "Jake has a sister and they both to go Pandora together" story line. Feedback is greatly appreciated! 
> 
> Na'vi translations:
> 
> Eywa ngahu - Goodbye / Eywa be with you
> 
> Enjoy the adventure!
> 
> ~Pixie


	3. Arrival on Pandora

___ Through a crack in the concrete _

_ The flower grows _

_ Break your chains _

_ Free your mind _

**[Prayer – OMNIA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6Q67ZkW480) **

* * *

 

_ Nearly 6 years later, aboard the ISV Venture Star _

The first few minutes after waking up from cryosleep were a bit disorienting, to say the least. 

At first I zoned in and out of consciousness for a while as my body slowly began to stir from its frozen slumber.  A throbbing headache greeted me as I became more alert. You know, the pressure kind that makes you feel like your head’s in a vice grip? I laid there in my compact cryo module, trying to regain my senses while I watched tiny water droplets lazily drift in the air inches above my face. 

To be honest, I kinda forgot where I was. For a moment. Like, I knew I was in a cryostasis module but couldn’t remember why. The drugs they gave you to put you in cryosleep made the brain all kinds of fuzzy. 

Then it dawned on me.  

Oh.  _ Oh. _

If I was awake then that could only mean one thing.

The space transport had arrived at Pandora!

My face broke into a Cheshire grin but the rush of excitement instantly made me feel woozy. Ugh. 

Suddenly, the door to my cryo module opened with a soft hiss and the bed I was lying on slid backwards. My eyes blinked rapidly to adjust to the bright light and suddenly one of the medical techs dressed in green scrubs was hovering above me.

“Rise and shine Sleeping Beauty,” he said as he gave me a quick medical examination before disengaging my fluid drips and IV nodes.

I tried to laugh but it ended up sounding more like a cough. “I take it we’re there?” I asked. Jeez, my voice sounded really hoarse and scratchy from not using it in so long. 

The man smiled knowingly, seeing the excitement in my eyes. “Yep, we’re there darlin’.” He unfastened the safety straps that held me to the mod bed and I immediately began to float in zero gravity.

“Woah!” I quickly latched onto something to steady myself, the sudden movement making me light headed.

The med tech gave my shoulder a small squeeze. “Take it easy now. Your brother is just waking up.”

I looked over to the left and saw Jake coming out of his cryo module. I waited for him to get seen to by another med tech before floating over. Such a weird experience - floating in zero gravity. I felt totally weightless. It was like floating in water minus the sensation of water on your skin.

When I reached Jake he looked pastey and still a bit groggy from cryosleep. 

“Hey, sleepyhead.”

He gave me a small smile, glad to see a familiar face. “Hey,”  

“How’re you feeling?” I asked.

“Like I had a fifth of tequila and an ass kicking,” he replied as he rubbed his face, still trying to wake up.

I couldn’t help but smirk. “Isn’t that how you normally feel every day?”

Jake rolled his eyes at me. “Funny.”

I shrugged. “Sorry, but you teed me right up,” I said as I moved to open my locker above our cryo mods to retrieve my pack. 

I was really glad that Jake had decided to accept the RDA’s proposal and join me on the mission in Tommy’s place. It was a huge relief that I wouldn’t be doing this alone and that we would still be together. 

But I was still a bit worried though. Jake was heading into a situation he wasn’t fully trained for; he hadn’t spent years preparing to encounter alien life like Tommy and I had. Plus, there was his disability to contend with and Pandora wasn’t exactly ADA friendly. 

I tried voicing my concerns to Jake before we left Earth. We had gone back to his tiny hole-in-the-wall apartment after Tommy was cremated. I sat on his horribly thin mattress, still reeling from Tommy’s death. Jake pushed a bottle of beer into my hands and did a small toast in Tommy’s honor.  Afterwards we drank slowly and in silence, both of us lost in our thoughts. 

“I’ll do it.” He suddenly said. 

I looked at him in disbelief. “What?”

“I’ll do it. I’ll go to Pandora with you.”

For the first time since the news of Tommy’s death, I felt like I could breath. My heart swelled at Jake’s words and the dread of going to Pandora by myself was lifted. But then the worry started to creep in. 

“Jake, are you sure?” I asked. “I mean, of course I would love for you to come, but you haven’t done the training and it’s going to be dangerous -”

“Exactly,” he said. “All the more reason to go. Somebody’s gotta watch your back out there. Can’t let you have all the fun by yourself.”

And now here we were, about to embark on a journey into the unknown. 

Jake joined me at the lockers, opening his up. At this point, just about all the new RDA workers had woken up from their cryosleep and were slowly moving around. 

“How long were we out for?” Jake asked me.

I opened my mouth to respond but one of the med techs beat me to it, making an announcement.

“People, you have been in cryo for five years, nine months and twenty-two days. You will be hungry; you will be weak. If you feel nausea, please use the sacks provided for your convenience. The staff thanks you in advance.” 

The mental image of someone’s sick gliding through the air made me wrinkle my nose in disgust. “Ewww!” 

Jake snickered.

As soon as we got dressed and had something substantial in our stomachs, we boarded a shuttle that would transport us down to the surface. On our way there, I caught a glimpse of the green and blue moon from a view window. I sucked in a breath at its bright and luscious splendor. It was even more beautiful than I had ever imagined! 

Once inside the shuttle we took our seats in the main loading bay. While Jake settled in and I closed up his wheelchair, I took a look around. Half of the room was filled with military personnel to act as security for the RDA’s operations while the other half were laborers hired to mine valuable resources like unobtainium. 

I hoped to spot Norm and say hi since we weren’t able to meet up before the launch back on Earth. When I didn’t see him I took my seat next to Jake and strapped myself in. I’d see him down on the surface soon enough.

Moments later, the shuttle detached from the space transport and began its descent into Pandora’s atmosphere which quickly turned into a bumpy ride. Uuugh this is why I hated airborne transportation! I squirmed in my seat and clutched onto my harness straps for dear life, hoping the turbulence would soon pass. 

“You okay?” Jake asked, noticing my uneasiness. 

“Yep,” I replied through gritted teeth, “just not overly fond of flying.”

I heard him chuckle. “Relax sis,” he said, “we’ll get there in one piece.”

Another rough shake rattled through the shuttle, causing everyone to glance around nervously. I quirked a skeptical brow at my brother. “So you say.”

Jake gave my knee a firm pat. “Just breathe. You’ll be fine.”

I blinked at him. Just for a second I thought I was looking at Tommy. He used to tell me the exact same thing to calm down whenever I’d had to go traveling by airplane on Earth. He’d always remind me that the plane was perfectly safe and there was nothing to worry about. 

I smiled sadly at the memories. It felt so weird doing this without him. The wound of him being wrenched away from me so suddenly and senselessly was still fresh. Six years may have passed but it felt like his death happened yesterday. 

It was kinda like I had the equivalent of phantom limb syndrome – something that amputees experienced after a body part had been severed. A ghost memory. That’s what Tommy’s death felt to me; that I lost an integral part of myself that should have been there. 

We had planned to do this together since we were kids – to go to Pandora and study its unique environment for medical research. And also to go on an adventure; to see and experience an alien world that was vibrant and alive. 

I had wanted to see so much with him – the colors, the rivers, animals, and the trees that went on forever. I had never seen a real tree before since there were very few left on Earth. I had seen pictures though. The Amazon still had a couple square miles of rainforest left. I had wanted to go see it but never had the time because I was busy with school. 

And it’s not like I wasn’t excited to see and do all those things with Jake. It’s just that he wasn’t excited about it like I was. At least I didn’t think so. Growing up, he was the jock in the family; always playing sports or goofing off with his friends while Tommy and I studied. 

Suddenly a loud and sharp voice started me out of my reverie.

“Exopacks on!” A tall, dark skinned crewman barked out orders as he walked past. Everyone who was seated quickly scrambled to get their breathing masks on. 

I heard the shuttle engines begin to slow as we made our approach to Hell’s Gate. A wave of relief to be on solid ground again washed over me. The sooner I could get out of this rattle trap, the better. 

As soon as I had my mask secure, twisting the dial on the chin to seal it, I turned to Jake to make sure he had his fixed firmly.

The crewman continued. “Remember people, you lose that mask you’re unconscious in twenty seconds and dead in four minutes. Let’s nobody be dead today! It looks very bad on my report.”

“That’s reassuring,” Jake muttered as I adjusted the dial on his mask. I snorted. 

Moments later, the shuttle came to a full stop as its wheels touched the ground at last. 

“Let’s move it, people! Harnesses off! Grab your packs!”

All the personnel, except for Jake who had to wait, immediately stood up and hurried to get lined up before the ramp lowered. The crewman who had been giving out orders moved his way to the front of the line. “When the ramp comes down go directly into the base and do not stop!” He said. “Go straight inside. Wait for my mark!”

He lowered his mask onto his face and looked to the exit just as the shuttle ramp began to lower. I craned my neck to try to see outside but annoyingly everyone blocked my view. 

The crewman gave the order to move out. I was pushed from behind as I was forced to jog along with the others. But once I made it down the ramp I skidded to a halt the moment my feet met the pavement. Screw the orders and screw protocol, I wanted to relish this!

I took a deep breath, my exopack hissing as it filtered out the air’s toxic gas and provided me oxygen. Tears prickled at the corners of my eyes as I took in the sights. After years of hard work, I finally made it to the place I dreamed about.

Tarmac stretched out for a couple hundred yards in every direction. Several soldiers sporting hefty rifles meandered around the road while heavy vehicles and excavators drove to and fro. A little further away, billows of steam wafted from a huge refinery that purified and treated the raw materials that were unearthed from the nearby quarry.

Surrounding the entire compound was a towering electric fence, no doubt to keep the dangers of the wild out. I grinned when I saw what was on the other side of it though - an immense jungle with looming trees that stretched their lofty branches towards the heavens.

Awesome!

“Let’s go, special case! Do not make me wait for you!” I heard the bossy crewman from before snap.

I turned to see Jake rolling down the shuttle ramp in his wheelchair. When he reached me, he smirked. “Someone’s happy,” he said. 

I practically skipped along we began to head toward the entrance to the main base. “Happy? I’m ecstatic!” I gushed excitedly, “Seriously, this is the coolest thing  _ ever _ . I mean, we’re on an alien planet! And there’s actual  _ trees _ over there and – woah, look out!”

We quickly dodged out of the way of a soldier encased in a giant robotic AMP suit who nearly squashed us like ants. Apparently he didn’t see us until the last second.

“Watch it newbies!” The soldier hollered at us before he moved along.

We stopped again as a massive yellow bulldozer drove in front of them. My eyes went wide when I saw huge colorful arrows protruding from its rubber wheels. 

I swallowed. I heard there was quite a bit of tension between the Na’vi and the RDA lately. I assumed it was because the RDA was increasing their encroach on their lands day by day as they searched for unobtainium, ruining their ecosystem in the process. Hell, I’d be upset too if I lived in a beautiful place and it was getting destroyed. 

“Danny…what are the aliens called here again?” Jake asked.

“The Na’vi,” I answered.

“And they’re how big?”

“Hm, they average ten feet.”

Jake groaned. “Outstanding.” He grumbled.

I rolled my eyes. “Oh hush. It’s unlikely you’ll encounter the Na’vi in human form. That’s what driving the avatar is all about. Speaking of which, I can’t wait to see…” 

My voice drifted off when I noticed three beefy marines ogling both Jake and I like dogs eyeing meat as we approached the entrance into the main building. 

What the hell was their problem?

“What’re you limp dicks starin’ at?” Jake asked them coolly. 

One of the marines, who was bald and slightly shorter than his other two mates, answered Jake with a smug look on his face. “A lotta guys leave this place in a wheelchair. I’ve never seen anybody show up in one. Someone like you ain’t gonna last long out here.”

Irritation burned inside my stomach. Who the hell did this guy think he was? We decidedly ignored the marine’s comment and made to move past him.

Until he suddenly stepped in front of me and blocked my path.

“Say, doll,” He said, looking me up and down with a hungry look that made my skin crawl, “why don’t you ditch that loser and be with a real man?”

I blinked at him, stunned by the shit that just spewed out of his mouth. And did he really just call me ‘doll’? What, was this guy from the 1940s? 

I smirked at him, channeling my inner Hermione Granger. 

“Sure,” I said cheerfully, “if you see one, let me know.”

The cocky grin on the marine’s face fell as his two friends started laughing. I quickly stepped around the guy and rejoined Jake, who kept a straight face until we made it inside the base. 

“Jerkface,” I muttered as we took off our exopacks, 

Jake started laughing. “Damn sis, that was a good one!” 

I smiled. “Well, you know, that’s how us Sullys do it,” I said with a wink.

* * *

 

“You are not in Kansas anymore…”

We made it just on time to attend the mandatory safety briefing that was held in the mess hall. Everyone had already taken their seats by the time we arrived, their attention focused on a tall, brawny man with cropped silvery hair. He slowly walked up and down the main aisle like a cat stalking prey. 

I recognized the man as Colonel Quaritch, the Head of Security, having heard about him during my avatar training. I didn’t know much about him. Judging from the formidable authority that rang out in his deep voice to the thick muscles beneath his tanned, scarred skin I knew that this was a man not to be trifled with. 

“…You are on Pandora, ladies and gentlemen. Respect that fact every second of every day. If there is a hell, you might want go there for some R and R after a tour on Pandora.” He pointed out the large window in the background, to the forest outside. “Out there beyond that fence, every living thing that crawls, flies, or squats in the mud wants to kill you and eat your eyes for jujubes.”

A palpable, wary silence fell over the room.

Quaritch continued. “We have an indigenous population of humanoids called the Na’vi. They’re fond of arrows dipped in a neurotoxin which will stop your heart in one minute. And they have bones reinforced with carbon fiber. They are very hard to kill.”

He looked back down the aisle right at Jake and I. The iciness in his steel blue eyes gave me goosebumps and not in a good way. Honestly, he was kinda freaking me out a bit. And I thought that the marine I  encountered outside was a creep. Boy, I was wrong.

The Colonel shifted his gaze off of us and looked around at the rest of the audience. “As Head of Security, it is my job to keep you alive. I will not succeed – not with all of you. If you wish to survive, you need to cultivate a strong mental attitude. You got to obey the rules. Pandora rules…”

I quietly sighed in boredom as Quaritch continued to drone on about safety and emergency protocols. It was nothing I hadn’t heard a hundred times before during my avatar training. The RDA had been very thorough when it came to protecting their investments. 

When briefing finally ended, I was up and out of my seat in a heartbeat, happy to leave the room and put some distance between Colonel Doom and Gloom and I. Then I noticed Jake sporting a little grin on his face. Why did he seem so relaxed all of a sudden?

“What are you smiling about?” I asked as I adjusted my pack on my shoulder. 

Jake shrugged. “Nothin’ like an old school safety briefing to put your mind at ease.”

I glanced back over at the Colonel who was having a quiet discussion with one of his officers. “’Ease’ isn’t the word I would have chosen,” I muttered. 

As we began to move towards the exit, I heard my name being called and turned to see Norm pushing through the crowds to get to me. He immediately swept me into a tight hug and I clung to his olive green vest and breathed in his minty scent, so pleased to see my friend once again. 

“Danny, I’m so sorry about what happened to Tom,” he said when we pulled apart, “it was a huge shock to all of us back at the training lab. Are you alright?”

I nodded. “Yeah…I’m doing okay.” I gave a small smile to reassure him. 

“I still can’t – oh!” Norm finally noticed Jake next to me and gawked, obviously taken aback by his identical resemblance to Tommy. I had told him before that he and Tommy were twins but he must have forgot. 

Jake simply stared back at Norm with a raised eyebrow. 

“Uh Norm,” I said, putting my hand on the back of Jake’s wheelchair, “this is my other brother, Jake.”

Norm blinked, remembering himself. “Oh yeah, they said you would be joining us. Wow, you look just like Tom. Sorry, I’m Norm Spellman,” he held out his hand to Jake who shook it, “went through avatar training with him and Danny.” 

“Nice to meet you,” Jake replied.

“Yeah, you too,” Norm looked back at me, “so you guys wanna check out the bio-lab?” 

I broke into a grin, my excitement returning. “Thought you’d never ask.”

He shared my smile and all three of us left the canteen. Norm took the lead as we maneuvered along the corridors to get to the science division. I was a bit surprised that he seemed to know his way around the place already as if he had been there for years. Knowing him, he must have memorized the base schematics.

I shook my head. Jeez, and I thought Tommy and I were nerds. 

A few minutes later we arrived at the lab. The transparent doors automatically slid open for us as we entered. 

The lab was dimly lit, illuminated only by the glow of computer screens and grow lights that hung over various plant specimens. People dressed in white lab coats and scrubs milled about, chatting quietly among themselves as they reviewed data.

I exhaled happily at the familiarity of it all, finally starting to feel at home.

“Definitely going to be spending a lot of time up here,” Norm said as we walked in. He turned to one of the researchers and introduced himself. 

I looked back at Jake. “Pretty cool, huh?”

He nodded as he glanced around the room. This was the first time Jake had ever been inside a research lab and judging by his wide eyed expression, he seemed a bit daunted. I couldn’t blame him. Jake was out of his element here but I promised myself that I would do my best to help him along the way. 

“Alright, let’s set them over here,” 

I turned to see two huge white metallic capsules being moved into the other side of the lab. My stomach fluttered in excitement, knowing that the capsules contained our avatars. 

I motioned for Jake to follow. “Come on,”

We moved over to watch the unloading. One of the scientists approached us then. By the look of him he was Eastern Indian. He wore glasses and had a fine beard and mustache. His dark hair was a bit disheveled but his chocolate eyes were kind and the laugh lines around his mouth made me immediately like him. 

“Hey, welcome to Pandora,” he said with a bright smile as he shook hands with Jake and I, “I’m Max Patel, good to have you guys.”

Gosh, his positive demeanor was infectious. “Nice to meet you. I’m Danny Sully and this is my brother, Jake.”

Norm joined us as the outer casings were removed from the capsules, revealing two translucent cylinder tanks filled with amniotic fluid. Inside were the avatar bodies - tall, lanky, and blue skinned. They were curled up like a baby in their mother’s womb, fidgeting in the fluid.

Jake laughed, albeit a little nervously, when he saw Norm’s avatar which was easily twice his size. “Damn, they got big.”

Norm nodded. “Yeah, they fully mature on the flight out. So it looks like the proprioceptive sims seem to work really well.”

Max tapped on the tank’s computer monitor, checking the avatar’s vitals. “Yeah, they’ve got great muscle tone,” he said. “It’ll take us a little while to get them decanted, but you guys can take them out tomorrow.”

Norm and I shared a grin. 

Max then pointed to the tank across from Norm’s avatar, looking at Jake. “There’s yours.”

Curious, Jake wheeled himself around to take a look while I followed closely behind. We stopped to look at the avatar’s face, quietly observing as he occasionally twitched in the fluid, his long tail coiled around his left thigh. 

The avatar’s resemblance to Tommy, to Jake, tugged at my heart strings.

“It looks like him,” Jake said with a little smile, echoing my thoughts. 

I gave him a hug from behind, resting my head against his. “Nah. He looks like _ both _ of you. This is your avatar now, bro.”

He reached for my arm that was wrapped around his chest and gave me a comforting squeeze. I looked up at Max when he came over with Norm.

“Where’s my avatar?”

Max smiled and he nodded behind me. “They’re unloading her right now.”

I turned and saw another team of scientists arrive with another white capsule. When the casing was removed, I beamed and took a few steps forward to get a better look. 

My avatar was amazing! She had my face only with a flatter nose and feline features. Her skin was a pretty blue with slightly darker blue stripes like a tiger. Some of her long black hair had come loose from her queue braid and floated around her angled cheek bones. She also had more toned muscle than I ever dreamed of having.

“Wow,” I breathed, “she’s awesome!” 

Jake wheeled himself next to me. “Yeah, she looks like she can kick ass.”

I laughed at that.

* * *

 

A little while later, after Max showed us around the lab and got us started on various projects that we would be helping with during our six year stay, he led us through a short corridor to the link room where we would be connecting to our avatars. He wanted to introduce us to Doctor Augustine before we left for the day. 

When Jake asked who Doctor Augustine was, Norm didn’t hesitate to fill him in.

“Grace Augustine is a legend!” Norm said with excitement. He had been acting like a kid in a candy store for the last hour. “She’s the head of the avatar program. She wrote the book, I mean,  _ literally _ wrote the book on Pandorean botany.”

I giggled at my friend’s enthusiasm. “Keep your cool there, Neville.” 

Norm rolled his eyes at his nickname. “Crookshanks.” He muttered. I elbowed him in the arm in reply.

Max glanced over his shoulder at us. “Well, she does like plants better than people,” he said. 

As soon as we arrived at the link room, the drivers were just coming out of their psionic link units. We approached an older woman who looked to be in her late forties. She had curly ginger hair that came down to her jaw line and was smoking a cigarette. 

“And here she is,” Max said, “Cinderella back from the ball. Grace, I’d like you to meet Norm Spellman and Jake and Danny Sully.”

Doctor Augustine turned and gave us all a calculating but brief once over before addressing Norm first.

“Norm,” she said, “I hear good things about you. How’s your Na’vi?”

Norm, aka Mr. Showoff, gave a little shrug before busting out a greeting in Na’vi, the words rolling off his tongue effortlessly. 

_ “May the Great Mother smile upon our first meeting.” _

Grace nodded in approval.  _ “Not bad, although, you sound a little formal.”  _ She then looked at me expectantly. Oh boy. “ _ And you?” _

I smiled.  _ “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.”  _

The frown that seemed to be a permanent feature on the Doctor’s face upturned. Just a little. “ _ The pleasure is mine. I’ve heard good things about you as well. Not many people your age are able to make it this far so I expect great things from you in the future,”  _ She looked from me to Norm, “ _ both of you.” _

Max gave a little cough then, making Grace look at him. “Uh, Grace, this is Jake Sully,” He gestured over to Jake who held out his hand in greeting.

“Ma’am,”

Grace shot him an irritated look. Uh-oh. 

“Yeah, yeah,” she said to him, ignoring his handshake, “I know who you are and I don’t need you. I need your brother. You know, the PhD who trained three years for this mission?”

“He’s dead,” Jake replied bluntly, making me wince and look down at the floor. “I know it’s a big inconvenience for everyone.”

Grace’s eyes roved over Jake skeptically for a moment. “How much lab training have you had?”

Jake shrugged. “I dissected a frog once.”

I wanted to facepalm myself. Nice to know that Jake was still as  _ sassy _ as ever. 

Grace turned to Max with a fiery look in her eye, making him shrink a little. I could have sworn her hair even turned a darker shade of red. 

“You see?” Grace asked him, “You see? They’re just pissing on us without even the courtesy of calling it rain,” she turned on her heels and stomped toward the link room exit. “I’m going to Selfridge!”

Max tried to stop her but she wasn’t having it.

“No, Grace, that’s not a good idea…”

“No man, this is such bullshit!” She yelled as she left room, “I’m going to kick his corporate butt. He has no business sticking his nose in  _ my  _ department.”

I felt bad for Jake. I didn’t expect for him to be met with this much hostility on his first day. I wondered what was it about Jake that made Doctor Augustine so pissed off. Obviously there was more to it than him not being a scientist. It was kinda rude that she wasn’t even going to give him a chance.

I sighed. “Well, that was fun.” 

Max shook his head. “Don’t mind her, she’s always like that after coming out of link.” He looked around at us before taking his leave. “Just be here tomorrow, oh nine hundred,” he glanced at Jake, “and try to use big words.”

Jake threw him a look as he left. 

Norm turned to me. “We should probably go find our rooms, get settled in. Big day tomorrow.”

I agreed. It had been a long day and tomorrow was probably going to be even longer. “Yeah, good idea. Let’s meet for dinner later?”

“Yeah, sounds good.”

He gave me a quick hug before departing. I looked at my brother and to my surprise, he was actually smiling.

“You know,” he said, “I actually kinda like her.”

I just shook my head. “Come on hot stuff, let’s go find our rooms.”

It was definitely going to be an interesting six years.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter - avatar testing! ;)


	4. Waking Up

_ Freedom doesn’t cost you money _

_ Freedom starts inside your head _

_ It’s time to wake and smell the flowers _

_ Don’t be like the living dead _

**[Freedom Song – OMNIA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2as1jJMXMY) **

* * *

The next day, at oh-seven hundred hours, I practically crawled along the corridors of the RDA complex trying to find the bio-lab again. Twice I had to stop and ask people for directions because I kept getting lost in my sleepiness. 

You figured I wouldn’t be tired at all, considering that I had spent the last six years in a frozen sleep but I was. Cryosleep was not the same as actual sleep. 

Also, I was  _ not _ a morning person. 

But why was I up so early? Well, I had received a message from Doctor Augustine requesting that I come into the lab earlier than the scheduled time for my first adventure in my avatar. Though I wondered why Jake and Norm weren’t joining me.

Finally, I found the lab and hoped I wasn’t late. As I tried to rub the last bit of sleep from my eyes, praying that I didn’t look like a walking advertisement for rigor mortis, I bumped into Max. 

“Good morning!” He greeted cheerfully. 

I winced at his tone. Ugh. How someone could be so damn jovial (or even fully functional) so early in the morning was beyond me.

“Mornin’,” I mumbled. 

Max gave me a sympathetic smile. “Here,” he said as he pushed a steaming cup of black coffee into my hands, “you’re gonna need this.”

I perked up at the sight of coffee. I almost hugged Max for his kind gesture but instead I gratefully accepted the cup. “Oh man, you’re a lifesaver.”

He chuckled. “What are doctors for?” He said with a wink. 

Max then guided me back through the link room and I saw that a few link modules were already in use. We came of an observation window that overlooked a large medical room. I saw my avatar lying on a surgical table and wearing a white hospital gown, having been freed from her transport module.

“Why don’t you wait here a bit?” Max suggested. “It’s going to be another ten minutes before we’re ready to start.”

I nodded, glad to have a moment to gather my thoughts before undergoing my first real link. 

I sipped my drink while I watched the activity in the room below. The coffee was a tad bitter for my taste. It definitely needed sugar and cream but at least it did the trick of jump starting my brain. My tiredness was replaced with anticipation as I watched the doctors fuss about my avatar as they hooked her up to monitors to observe her vitals. I noticed that all the doctors wore exopacks since the air in the medical room mimicked Pandora’s gaseous atmosphere so that my avatar was able to breathe. 

“She’s a beauty, isn’t she?”

I nearly jumped out of my skin in fright, almost spewing my coffee everywhere. I whipped my head to see the one and only Grace Augustine standing next to me. Jeez, where the hell did she come from?

The doctor’s hazel eyes were trained on my avatar lying in the medical room. She didn’t wait for me to reply as she reached into the pocket of her lab coat and drew out a cigarette and a lighter. 

“Sorry to get you up so early,” she said as she lit the cigarette between her teeth, “but we can only prepare two avatars at a time and I figured it’d be a good idea to get you set up first before the boys.”

Oh. So that was the reason.

My nose wrinkled at the acrid smell of cigarette smoke as it filled the space between us. It shocked me that a doctor of all people would even smoke at all. I mean, Grace knew it was bad for her health, right? 

I’d be lying if I said that Grace didn’t intimidate me. She wasn’t what I was expecting when I first met her. She was definitely someone you didn’t want to be on the bad side of. Like, if someone put one toe out of line she would make that person’s life a living hell. 

Which is why my gut felt like it was twisting into knots as I opened my mouth to speak. I had to say something in Jake’s defense after what happened yesterday.

I called upon my Gryffindor courage to help me out.

“Um, Doctor Augustine?” I asked hesitantly, my fingertips tracing the small cracks on the rim of my cup. 

“Call me Grace.” 

I nodded. “Grace…um, about my brother…”

Grace immediately stiffened. “What about him?”

“I know Jake isn’t the researcher you hoped for,” I began, “but he is a fast learner and works very hard. I’m sure he’ll be a good asset to –“

Grace interrupted before I could finish. “Look, I know he’s the only family you’ve got and I apologize for how brash I was yesterday, but a trigger happy moron is the last thing I need right now.” She sighed. “If he does  _ anything  _ that threatens our work here or the lives of the Na’vi, I’m sending his ass back to Earth. Is that clear?”

I looked down, feeling like a scolded child. “Yes, ma’am.”

Grace glanced at the half empty cup in my hands. “Finish that up and head over to module two. We’re about ready to start the initial link.”

As she walked away, I quickly downed the rest of my coffee. Not sure where to leave the empty cup I placed it on a nearby desk and made my way to the link mod. Grace stood next to it, fiddling with the workstation that monitored the link between human and avatar. 

“So,” Grace said as I took a seat on the mod bed, “how much link time have you logged?”

“Four hundred and five hours.”

She tilted her head. “That’s about average.” 

_ Average? _ I raised an eyebrow at that. Hey, I thought I had done pretty well with my link time considering I had spent less time in the training program than Tommy and Norm. 

I wondered what Grace would think of Norm’s five hundred and twenty hours, that overachiever.

Grace turned to me. “Alright, you know the drill. Lay back, relax, and let your mind go blank.”

I did as instructed, wiggling my body to get comfortable against the green gel padding that cushioned me. 

As Grace placed her hand on the lid of the module to close it, I caught a small reassuring smile on the doctor’s face. 

“See you out there, kid.” She said as she shut the lid.

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, listening to the hum of the module as it scanned my brain patterns, copying and downloading my neural network to my avatar’s brain. 

_ Just relax, _ I told myself. There was an odd tugging sensation in my brain as if my consciousness was being pulled out with a magnet. It was different from when I did the practice links.  _ You got this. _

Then, out of nowhere, I was flying through a swirling tunnel of rainbow light.

* * *

“Alright, wanna try standing up?” One of the med techs, who had introduced himself as Brenden, asked me.

It had been about forty-five minutes since I woke up in my avatar body. I was sitting up on the surgical table as the doctors put me through a series of motor tests just to make sure there wasn’t anything wrong with my nervous system.

I nearly had a sensory overload after the initial haze of waking up had cleared away. All my senses were dialed to eleven. My pointed ears swiveled to and fro as if they had minds of their own, picking up the tiniest sounds. I could even smell the faint flowery perfume of one of the nurses who used it to hide the fact that she hadn’t showered in a while. 

I tried not to gag.

It all was going to take some getting used to.

I nodded at Brenden. “Okay.”

Slowly and carefully, I stood. The muscles in the small of my back pulled slightly as my long tail flicked eagerly. Heh. I had a tail!

I took one step, then another. The height difference between my avatar body and the doctors was friggin’ hilarious! I bit my lip to keep from laughing at how absurdly tall I was. I was like a giant towering over little children.

“Good!” Brenden praised after I successfully walked the length of the room without incident. “How do you feel?”

I saw Max and Grace standing by the observation window watching my progress. Max gave me a thumbs up while Grace simply nodded her head. 

“I feel fantastic!” I said, “When can I go outside?”

Brenden pursed his lips. “Well,”

Grace intervened before he could say otherwise, her voice coming through the intercom. “C’mon guys, let her go out. She’s fine. We gotta get ready for the boys anyway.”

Brenden sighed in resignation. “Fine, but no running,” he said firmly, holding up a finger at me. “You’re not ready for any physical exertion yet.”

“You got it, doc.” Finally, I could explore outside! 

The doctors cleared the room to give me some privacy as I got dressed in avatar sized clothing; a black tank top, khaki shorts, and hiking boots.

The clothes seemed a bit ridiculous on a Na’vi body. It just felt out of place. The fabrics, which would have felt soft to a human’s touch, were scratchy and constricting against my smooth blue skin. Who knew that one day I’d actually dislike wearing clothes.

Once decent I was directed outside.

And holy cow, it was so amazing! My new senses came alive the moment I stepped out. The sun shone brightly, the skies were crystal clear and the air was incredibly clean and fresh, unlike the thick smog filled atmosphere of Earth. I could actually see the gas planet Polyphemus and at least two other neighboring moons in the sky. 

I surveyed the wide compound. It was definitely built to keep the avatars active. Just a few feet in front of me was a basketball court and beyond that was an elaborate obstacle course. There were also several garden plots for studying various flora specimens which a few avatars seemed to be doing.

“Incoming!” 

I jerked my head to the left and zeroed in on a basketball that was hurling towards me. Oh shit! 

“Oof!” I stumbled back as the ball hit me square in the stomach.

“ _ Dio mio _ ! I’m so sorry!” An avatar, a woman dressed in dark green gym shorts and a burgundy sports bra, came running up to me. “Are you okay?”

I nodded. “Yeah, I’m good.” I tossed the ball back to the woman who caught it with ease and tucked it under her arm. 

“You must be one of the newbies,” the woman said, offering me a kind smile as she held out her hand. “It’s Danielle, right?”

I returned the smile. “Yep but you can call me Danny.”

“Cool, I’m Lia Geovanni. Sorry again about the ball – the little bugger got away from me. Any chance you play?” She asked hopefully.

I shook my head. “Nah, sports aren’t really my thing.”

Lia looked disappointed. “Bummer. And here I was hoping you could help me whup Shawn’s ass on the court.”

A snort sounded from behind Lia. “You wish, Geovanni.”

A male avatar approach us then. He was shirtless and wore the same gym shorts as Lia did. Another woman trailed behind him and I was nearly blinded by the bright yellow tank top and matching headband she wore. 

The man stopped next to Lia, smirking at her. “I won our last match, remember?”

Lia rolled her eyes. “You cheated.”

“Did not!”

“Did too!”

“Will you two knock it off?” The woman in the yellow tank top barked, her tail flicking in annoyance. “Grace is right; it’s like kindergarten around here.”

The man ignored her. “So is this the new girl?” He asked, jutting his chin toward me. 

“Yep, guys this is Danny,” Lia said, “Danny, meet Shawn Adams and Cassie Reed.”

I held my hand out. “Nice to meet you,”

Shawn reached for my hand but instead of reciprocating the handshake, he bent forward and placed a kiss on my skin. “Pleasure’s all mine, Danny.” He said with a wink.

Oh my god. No one had ever kissed my hand before. This guy Shawn was a total flirt for sure. I couldn't help but feel heat rise in my cheeks. Did avatars, or Na’vi for that matter, even blush? I had no idea.

"Quit teasing her Shawn." Lia snapped.

Shawn grinned back at Lia as he let go of my hand. “Why? You jealous Geovanni?”

Lia scoffed. “You’re an idiot.”

"Come on," Cassie threw an arm over my shoulders, “I’ll show you around.”

She led me away from the bickering couple, much to my relief. Things were starting to get kinda weird there for a moment.

“Are they…? You know,” Danny waggled my finger, my actions speaking for my words.

Cassie laughed. “No, not officially. But trust me, a lot of us would be happier if those two would just get a room already.”

We walked further into the grounds. I noticed that Cassie’s skin was a rather dark shade of blue indicating that she spent a lot of time under the sun and I wondered what her field of research was.

Cassie seemed to be studying me as well. 

“Ya know, you’re a lot younger than I expected.” She said after a while, “How old are you anyways?”

“Well, I left Earth when I was twenty-two,” I answered then paused as I did the math, “Jeez, I guess that means I’m twenty-eight now.” Damn, that didn’t seem possible!

Cassie shook her head. “Being in cryo doesn’t count. Twenty-two? Dang girl, that’s impressive! You must have graduated Uni super early then.”

I shrugged. “Yeah, I graduated at nineteen with a PhD in Biomedicine. My brother, Tommy, got me into the Avatar program after that. The rest is history.”

“Sweet,” Cassie said, “Well you’re gonna love it here. Being an avatar driver can get pretty addicting.”

We came to one of the larger gardens within the compound and Cassie pointed out a few edible plants that were growing. 

“You hungry?” She asked.

My stomach answered on cue, making rumbly sounds.

“S’cuse me,” I mumbled sheepishly.

Cassie grinned. “Best way to eat on Pandora,” she said as she reached for some green star shaped berries growing in clusters on a violet leafed shrub, “is to eat right off of the vine.” 

She plucked off a few berries and handed some to me. Fresh food was pretty much unheard of back on Earth – it was all synthetic and came out of microwavable packets. Farmlands had completely disappeared nearly a century ago beneath concrete jungles. The only time I had ever seen any greenery growing in was in laboratories.

I held a berry up to my lips and took a tentative bite. It was crunchy and peppery at first but had a sweet, minty aftertaste.

It was the best thing I ever tasted.

“What are these called?” I asked.

“ _ Pastanhí.” _

“They’re really good,” I said as I popped the rest into my mouth. When I finished I  reached for an entire cluster of  _ pastanhí,  _ snapping them off the bush.

"Slow down there, Ace." Cassie chortled, golden eyes sparkling knowingly.

I just smiled and took a bite of the berries, uncaring of the of juice that dribbled down my chin.

I could really get used to this.

* * *

 

Jake couldn’t remember the last time he felt so alive.

The moment he realized he could move and feel his legs again after waking up in his avatar body he was up and out of the medical room in a flash, ignoring the panicked doctors as they yelled at him about unfinished tests.

He stumbled as he pushed the door open to go outside, legs wobbling like hell at first but he quickly gained his balance. 

After years of being confined to a wheelchair he could finally feel his own feet beneath him again.

He darted past a few other avatars, two of which were playing basketball. They dropped what they were doing as he ran past, mouths agape. Somewhere behind him he heard Norm shouting at him to slow down and that they shouldn’t be running but Jake didn’t give a flying fuck. 

He had his legs back and he was  _ free _ . 

And God, he had forgotten how much he loved running! He missed feeling the exertion of his muscles and the hammering of his heart.

Laughter bubbled in Jake’s throat as he pushed himself faster and faster, tearing across the yard and almost crashing into a AMP Suit that was patrolling the area.

“Oh jeez! Sorry!” Jake yelled as he leaped across the Suit’s pathway.

“Watch it!” The soldier shouted back and threw his arms up in the air in annoyance.

Jake ignored him and continued on his sprint until he came to a large garden, skidding to a halt. He looked around, taking in the colorful sights and sounds of the landscape he now found himself in and marveled at how damn good the clean air felt in his lungs as he took a big inhale.

Maybe this avatar thing wasn’t so bad after all.

He looked down at his blue toes and wiggled them in the fresh dirt. God, did it feel fucking  _ amazing _ .

“Hey marine!” He heard a familiar voice call from somewhere to his right.

Jake turned and saw a woman walk down the wooden steps of a large cabin and approach him. 

“Grace?” Jake asked, hardly believe he was looking at Grace Augustine. She’s actually smiling and looked happier than the first time he met her. There was something about the way she carried herself in her avatar body; she seemed more relaxed and less likely to rip his head off his shoulders. 

“Well, who’d you expect numb nuts?” The beads in Grace’s hair gently clinked against each other as she picked a large purple fruit off from a nearby bush and tossed it to him. “Think fast!”

Jake swiftly caught the fruit and rolled it between his hands for a moment before bringing it to his mouth to take a bite.

And damn, it was delicious! It was juicy and bursting with sweet flavors that Jake had never tasted before.

“Motor control is lookin’ good,” Grace observed, shaking her head at him when he shoved the rest of the fruit in his mouth, juice dripping onto his hospital gown.

“Jake!”

The marine looked behind and recognized his sister’s avatar as she hurried up to him. The astonished look on her face told him exactly what she was thinking.

“Jake, you’re walking!” Danny exclaimed, her golden cat-like eyes glistening.

“I’m walking,” he said, winking at her.

He scooped her up into a tight hug swung her around. Danny squealed in his arms while he laughed, remembering the times he used to do this to her when they were kids. It felt good to do it once more. 

Danny beamed up at him when he set her back down, her joyful smile stunning as the sun itself. 

“So Jake,” Grace said, making the siblings turn their attention back to her, “how did you manage to sneak past the med techs in nothing but your johnny?” She asked the marine with a sly smile on her face.

Jake felt his cheeks burn. Suddenly he realized, as a slight breeze swept passed him, that his ass was hanging out through the untied back of his hospital gown. No wonder those other avatar drivers were giving him weird looks. “Ah…well…”

Luckily he was saved from answering Grace’s question when the sound of hurried footsteps caused the three avatars to turn around. Norm huffed as he stopped in front of them, having finally caught up with Jake. 

“This is so awesome!” Norm said. “Check this out,” he flexed the toned muscles in his arms and struck a pose. 

“I am a living god!” He declared.

Grace burst out laughing while Danny slapped a hand over her eyes. Jake looked away, shaking his head. 

What the hell did he get himself into?

* * *

For Jake, Norm, and myself the rest of the day was spent meeting the rest of the avatar drivers and getting used to our new bodies.

The long tail was the hardest thing for me to get used to. Every so often it would randomly brush against my legs or my back, making me jump every time. Jake, that jerk, thought it was funny and would snort every time my tail scared the bejesus out of me.

I made a mental note to get back at him later. In the meantime, I needed to figure out how to get my friggin’ tail under control.

Before I knew it, it was nighttime. All the drivers headed into the big cabin after dinner to get ready for bed. Grace had a strict curfew – everyone had to be inside the cabin and in bed by nineteen hundred hours. 

Dinner had been the best meal I had ever eaten. We had fresh meat and vegetables grilled over an open fire. Both Jake and Norm had wolfed down their food while I took my time, savoring each bite because it tasted so wholesome and satisfying unlike the dry, artificial foods I had been raised on.

As soon as I finished my plate I got a second serving with Norm and Jake following suit. The drivers chucked among themselves as they watched us newbies fall in love with our food.

I went into the cabin afterwards, picking out a cot next to Jake’s and changing into pajamas that Grace had given me.

That’s when I saw it, sitting propped up against the wall in the far corner.

A guitar!

I made a beeline for it, surprised as hell to see an actual guitar there. Carefully, I picked it up. Tracing its smooth curves, I could tell it was made from carbon fiber which meant it was really sturdy. Its color was supposed to be black but the layer of dust on it made it look grey. The guitar was the perfect size for an avatar to play but clearly it hadn’t been used for a while. I wondered who it belonged to.

“I see you found Lola.”

I looked up to see Shawn standing next to me “Oh, sorry, I was just looking.”

Shawn waved me off as he sat down on his cot. He was still shirtless but had changed shorts. “Hey, don’t apologize. It’s nice to see Lola getting some love.”

I smiled. “Is she yours?”

Shawn shook his head. “She belonged to another driver named Randy. Good kid, good scientist. He loved music and had that guitar custom made before he shipped out here.”

The way that Shawn talked about this guy Randy in past tense made me a little uneasy. He obviously wasn’t in the program anymore.

“What happened to him?”

Shawn cast his gaze downwards. “Few years back there was an…incident. He was out in the jungle collecting samples with some other biologists when a group of Na’vi hunters attacked. The drivers lost their avatars and a few had to be discharged from the program ‘cause of the psychological effects of having been killed during link. Randy was one of them.”

Oh my god. The Na’vi actually attacked the avatars? I guess after seeing those arrows in the bulldozer, it wasn’t surprising. Still, it made the dangers of going beyond the fence more of a reality. 

“That’s awful,” I murmured, “I’m so sorry.”

Shawn shrugged. “Can’t really blame them, the Na’vi” he said, “Not after what we put them through.” He nodded at the guitar, changing the subject. “So do you play?”

“A little,” I said as I slipped the woven guitar strap over my shoulder so that I held it properly, “although it’s been awhile.” My fingers plucked at the strings, listening to the notes. It was out of tune from not having been used in so long. 

“What about you?” I asked Shawn. “Do you play?”

He shook his head. “Nah, I don’t have the knack for it. Randy tried teaching me once but we both ended up in the emergency room. We agreed that I should just stick to basketball.”

I giggled and strummed a few more chords before Grace announced it was time for bed. 

“Well, thanks for letting me try her out,” I said as I lifted the guitar strap off.

“Keep her,” He said. I blinked at him in disbelief. “Really, I insist. She’s just been sitting there gathering dust. She needs a new home.” A mischievous glint appeared in his golden eyes then. “But only if you promise to play us all a song every now and then.”

I gave him a smile. “Deal.”

I made my way back to my cot with Lola in tow. Wow, I actually had a guitar to play! Things just got even better.

Jake was already sitting on his cot when I came back, holding up the end of his queue braid. His eyes were wide as he watched the little pink neural fibers hidden within the braid wriggle like they had minds of their own. 

“What the hell is this?” He asked.

Grace, who was walking by to lock up the cabin for the night, answered him. “Neural fibers. Don’t play with them or you’ll go blind.”

I snorted as Jake instantly dropped the braid from his hand. “That’s kinda freaky.” He mumbled.

“You’re kinda freaky,” I teased as I gently set the guitar next to my bed. I planned to give it a good cleaning and tuning tomorrow.

Jake rolled his eyes. “Look who’s talking.”

I snatched the pillow from my bed and smacked him with it. “Hey!”

“Alright you two, settle down over there,” Grace called up from the front of the room as she secured the cabin. “Lights out! See you at dinner kiddies.”

Dinner? But we just had - oh right. Our avatar bodies had eaten but our human bodies did not. I was still getting used to that concept, having two bodies to take care of. So weird. 

Grace switched off the lights and everyone snuggled into their cots. I laid on my back and pulled my queue braid from underneath me so it wouldn’t get tangled up during the night. I closed my eyes and listened to the musical buzz of the insects outside and the occasional hoot of an animal in the distance.

The sounds soothed me into sleep and soon enough my consciousness traveled back through the rainbow vortex. My eyes popped open, greeted by the familiar green interior of my link module.

I sighed. It was like I had woken up from a fantastic dream and was disappointed that it was over. 

I lifted the lid of the module and propped myself up on my hands, feeling sore all over. All I could think about was how I couldn’t wait to go back out there again and feel the sun on my skin and the wind in my hair.

Cassie had been right. Being an avatar can get addicting. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Get your hiking boots on for the next chapter 'cause we're heading into the jungle!
> 
> Na'vi translations:
> 
> Pastanhí - star berry


	5. Into the Jungle

_Beware the Jabberwock, my son!_

_The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!_

_Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun_

_The frumious Bandersnatch!_

**[Jabbermoon – OMNIA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZh2GLn7dSI) **

 

* * *

_One week later._

Parker Selfridge was having an unusually good day.

He wasn’t sure what to attribute it to; the fact that he got a new golf putter or that they miraculously managed to scrape enough Unobtanium together this past quarter to ship back to Earth – just enough to appease the corporate shareholders. At least for now. Plus, he hadn’t seen hide nor tail of that uppity minx Grace Augustine for a week, not since her new researchers came to town.

His day was almost ruined though when one of those researchers crashed into him in the hallway. He just finished a meeting with one of the labor teams and was heading back to his office when he rounded a corner and collided into a young woman wearing a white lab coat. The stack of files she had been carrying dropped out of her hands, papers scattering everywhere.

“Oh, crap!” She exclaimed as she bent down to pick up the papers, “I am so sorry!”

Parker scoffed as he smoothed the front of his blue button down shirt. He was about to reprimand her on watching where she was going until he caught sight of her face.

The scathing remarks he intended to say instantly died on his tongue.

Parker couldn’t remember the last time he saw such a beautiful woman. Sure, there were some nice looking women around the complex. But this girl? Jesus, she was something else.

Her mahogany hair fell in waves just past her shoulders and her skin was creamy with her lips and cheekbones dusted pink. Freckles dotted her nose and the color of her green eyes reminded him of emeralds with the way they sparkled in the light.

“It’s alright,” his voice caught like it always did when he was nervous. Wait, nervous? Hell, when was last time he felt nervous around a girl? College, maybe?

He cleared his throat awkwardly and bent down to help the woman pick up the remaining papers. “No harm done,” he said.

He gave the papers back to her when they stood up. He smiled when he saw that they were the same height as well. He liked it when he could look a woman directly in the eyes and not up at them.

“Thank you,” she said.

“My pleasure. Say, I haven’t seen you before. Did you arrive last week? On the shuttle?”

The woman nodded. “That’s right. I’m one of the new avatar drivers,” she held her hand out to him, “I’m Danny Sully.”

Sully? Ah, the paralyzed marine, Jake. The one that Grace had come griping to him about. Parker thought he read something in his file about him having another sibling in the avatar program. He’d have to look up her file later.

He reached out and shook her hand, taking note of how soft her skin felt. “Parker Selfridge.”

Danny flushed. “Oh. Right, you’re the -”

“The boss,” he said proudly, his chest puffing up slightly. “I’m the one running this whole show.”

She nodded. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“Likewise. So, uh, where you headed?”

“Back to the bio-lab. Grace, I mean, Doctor Augustine, needed some documents.”

“Mind if I tag along?” Parker asked.

Danny absently tucked her hair behind her ear. “…Okay?”

Wow, she was cute when she was shy.

Parker watched her out of the corner of his eye as they walked to the lab. He could tell he made her a little nervous with the way she kept quiet and clutched her files to her chest.

“So,” He began, looking for a way to start up a friendly conversation in hopes of dispelling some of her uneasiness. He wanted her to like him. “you’re a doctor?”

“I’m a biomedical scientist,” Danny replied, shrugging a little, “I help develop medicines to treat diseases.”

“Really? Like what?”

“My focus is cancer. I’ve been studying different types of Pandorean flora to help tumors shrink and hopefully disappear altogether. There’s this one plant we call Inrigo Liliam that shows a lot of promise…”

At this point Parker didn’t bother to understand what Danny was saying. He liked listening to her voice though, she had a sweet voice. It was better than listening to Quaritch’s drawl or Grace’s bitching. But the moment someone started talking science to him he blanked out. It was all mumbo jumbo to him. Facts and figures was more his lingo.  

Danny must have noticed his inattention because she suddenly stopped talking. He glanced at her and saw her looking down at the floor bashfully.

“Sorry,” she said, “I guess this all sounds boring to you, huh?”

Aw shit.

“Oh no! Not at all!” Parker quickly said, “I think the work you’re doing is really interesting. I…just don’t know much about science is all.”

She seemed to buy his excuse judging from the little smile that tugged at her lips. “It’s okay,” she said, “I have a tendency to ramble sometimes.”

Parker quietly breathed out a sigh of relief.

They reached the bio-lab, much to his disappointment. He hoped to talk to Danny more but this wasn’t the place to do so. The moment he stepped into the lab he saw most of the researchers do a double take when they saw him, mouths hanging open.

Parker refrained from scoffing and rolling his eyes. Idiots.

Danny handed her stack of files to a passing Asian woman. Parker recognized her as Louise, one of Grace’s assistants. Louise looked from Danny to Parker and scurried off with the files. He hoped to god that Grace wouldn’t show up while he was here. He did _not_ want to deal with her right now.

Best to get out of there as fast as possible.

“Well, it was great meeting you Danny,” he said turning to the young woman, “I enjoyed our little talk.”

She met his gaze and he felt himself being swept away by their attractive emerald color once more. Green was his favorite color - the color of wealth.

“Me too,” she said, “sorry again about crashing into you in the hallway.”

He shrugged. “Hey, don’t worry about it. I’m glad you did.”

Her soft laugh made his heart skip a beat. Before he knew it, he was taking a step towards her.

“You know I was wondering,” he said, “if, maybe, you’d want to have lunch together sometime?”

She blinked at him, her eyebrows shooting up in surprise. “Lunch? With you?”

He nodded. “With me.”

“Um…”

Danny hesitated. Parker could practically see the gears turning in her head as she thought about whether to say yes or no. He raised his eyebrows at her, smiling and hoping she would accept.

“Yeah okay, sure,” she finally said, giving him a timid smile, “that sounds nice.”

Parker clapped his hands together. “Great! Well, then, I’ll see you around.”

He turned on his heels and grinned from ear to ear as he exited the bio-lab.

* * *

 

It was later in the afternoon when I linked to my avatar.

I sat still on the wooden steps of the cabin with my guitar propped up on my lap. I was enjoying a few moments of sunshine while I watched Norm and Cassie tend to the gardens nearby.

A sigh escaped my lips. I had been really missing Tommy all day and kept thinking about what he would do or say if he was with me in the lab or out in the avatar compound. He would have loved hanging out in the gardens. I could just picture him spending hours studying every plant, memorizing their scents and features.

Maybe I kept thinking about him because tomorrow I would be going on my very first science expedition out in the jungle with Jake, Norm, and Grace. I remembered how excited Tommy was about exploring Pandora’s wilderness. “We’re the few lucky ones that get to see it,” he once said to me, “isn’t that incredible?”

A wistful smile tugged at the corners of my mouth. _I wish you were here to see it with me bro,_ I thought before turning my attention back to the guitar. Music always cheered me up.

The guitar had transformed into a thing of beauty after I had cleaned off the thick layer of dust that had covered it. The sunlight gleamed against its glossy black surface and the notes rang out crisp and clear as I began to play an old song from my favorite band, The Beatles.

“Blackbird singing in the dead of night,” I sang softly, “take these broken wings and learn to fly. All your life, you were only waiting for this moment to arise.”

My love for music and guitar playing came from my mother. She had a guitar too and used to sing to my brothers and I before going to sleep. Blackbird was one of my favorite songs to fall asleep too.

“Blackbird singing in the dead of night, take these sunken eyes and learn to see. All your life, you were only waiting for this moment to be free.”

Suddenly a familiar voice interrupted me. “I didn’t know you could sing and play guitar.”

“Eeeeek!” I jolted, my fingers fumbling against the strings, ruining the song. My squeal caused Norm and Cassie to look over at me to make sure I was okay. When they saw it was only Grace, they returned to their weeding.

I glanced up and saw Grace smirking at me. It seemed that she liked scaring the living hell out of me. She wasn’t the only one – Jake did it to me all the time.

“Oh. Um, my mom taught me when I was little,” I said as I scooted over to make room for Grace to sit down, “after she died I taught myself. Gave me something to do when I wasn’t studying for school.”

Grace nodded before taking a seat next to me. I noticed that Grace’s hair, except for her queue braid, was loose and wet. She also smelled faintly sweet as if she just taken a shower.

“Well, you don’t sound half-bad,” she said, “you should sing more often.”

I looked down, my cheeks tingling.

A moment passed.

“So,” Grace began, tone rigid, “I heard Selfridge paid us a visit in the lab today.” She looked expectantly at me. “Wanna tell me what that was about?”

I cringed. Gossip of me walking into the bio-lab with the RDA’s head honcho must have spread like wildfire so of course Grace wanted to know what was going on.

“There’s not much to tell,” I said, shrugging, “I ran into him in the hallway by accident and he asked if he could walk with me back to the lab. Then he asked if we could have lunch at some point.”

Grace raised an eyebrow. “He asked you out to lunch?”

I nodded. “Yeah,”

Grace’s eyes narrowed, her face pinched like she tasted something sour. “And you don’t know why?” She asked.

I shook my head. “No idea. He never said.” It didn't sound like a big deal, right?

Grace leaned back on her hands a little, her lips pulled into a tight frown as she took in what I had told her.

“Do yourself a favor,” she said, “stay away from him.”

I blinked. Okay. Not the sort of reply I was expecting.

"Any reason why?"

Grace leveled me with a hard look then. A look that made me want to shrink down into nothingness because it made me feel like I did something wrong.

“Look, you’re a smart girl. But you’re also young. So I want you to listen very carefully to what I’m about to tell you. Selfridge doesn’t care about anything unless there’s something in it for him. He’s a selfish, greedy, passive-aggressive son of a bitch. All he’s concerned about is how to make millions for the RDA, no matter what the cost.”

Oh. Regret started to pool in the pit of my stomach. I had considered declining Parker’s offer but I had a tendency to be a people pleaser. It just felt rude to say ‘no’ to the head administrator of the RDA and he had seemed nice enough at the time. But after listening to Grace, I felt like I made a big mistake.

What was I thinking?

“So…you think he wants something from me?” I asked, genuinely worried and confused. I mean, what could Parker possible want from me? _Me_ \- a nerdy, twentysomething year old biomedical scientist who liked to play guitar and obsess over vintage music and books. It’s not like I had tons of money or valuable resources for him to utilize.

“Possibly,” Grace answered, “But don’t ask me what because I’m just as clueless about it as you are. One thing I do know is that neither Selfridge or his guard dogs are to be trusted. I learned that the hard way. Just promise me you’ll keep your distance?”

Slowly I nodded. “Okay,” I murmured, “I will.”

“Good.”

And with that said Grace stood up and made her way over to Cassie and Norm leaving me alone on the steps, head spinning and my fingers limp against the guitar strings.

* * *

 

Mist permeated the early morning air as Jake and I followed behind Norm and Grace in our avatars to get to the Samson helicarrier that would fly us out into the jungle.

“Scared, Danny?” Jake asked as we walked across the tarmac.

Nah, I wasn’t scared. Not at all. Sure, we were heading into hostile territory where dangerous creatures roamed and relations with the Na’vi were on thin ice. But despite all that, I didn’t feel like there was any reason to be afraid.

Cautious, definitely, but not scared.

If anything, I was ecstatic! I dreamed of this moment for as long as I could remember. I used to stay up late at night with Tommy just to watch TV shows about Pandora’s wildlife, wishing that I could see it for myself.

And now here I was about to go on my first official trek through the jungle.

It was gonna be awesome!

“No, not really,” I answered Jake. He raised a brow and I shrugged. “Okay. Except for maybe getting eaten by something.”

“Don’t worry about that, sis,” Jake said as he readjusted the large rifle that hung from his shoulder, “I got your back.”

I smiled. Maybe that’s why I didn’t feel scared. Having Jake there to protect me definitely made me feel secure. He was a marine after all. At this point, I wasn’t sure what I’d do without him.

I was really happy he was there with me.

“Thanks Jake.”

It was Jake’s turn to shrug. “What are big brothers for?”

When we reached the Samson, I stopped in my tracks when I saw who would be joining us on the trip.

It was that dickhead marine who practically accosted both Jake and I the day we arrived on Pandora.

He was checking the ship’s door guns when we arrived. His beady eyes zeroed in on me and he had the audacity to smirk. Ugh!

“Not this guy again,” I muttered as I took off my backpack and flung it into the ship. I couldn’t believe that out of all the people around here they had to pick that creep to tag along with us.

Norm, who overheard me, shot me a questioning look but I shook my head. “I’ll tell you later.” I told him.

A woman carrying a clipboard walked out from behind the ship then. She wore dark fatigues and her brunette hair was pulled back into a ponytail. Even with her exopack on, I could see that the woman had a pretty face.

“Hola!” She greeted, nodding at Grace. “This everyone?”

“Yep,” Grace said, “this is our team for today. Guys, I’d like you to meet Trudy. She’s been flying our science missions for some years now. Trudy, these are our new teammates, Norm, Jake, and Danny.”

Trudy waved at us. “Nice to meet you guys. Hey Jake! You look good in blue.”

Jake grinned. “Jealous?”

Trudy laughed as she opened the door to the cockpit. “Oh hell no.”

Wait, what? I looked from Jake to Trudy, eyebrows raised. Huh. My brother failed to mention that he already knew our pilot.

“You know her?” I asked Jake.

He secured his rifle in the ship’s door frame. “We met yesterday,” he said, his gaze not meeting mine. “She’s pretty cool.”

And that’s all he would say on the subject.

Weird.

Shrugging, I climbed into the back of the ship.

* * *

 

It was official. I did not like flying in the Samson.

I mean, I thought flying in the shuttle to Hell’s Gate was bad. Nope, the Samson was definitely ten times worse.

The noise from the ship’s turbines screamed into my sensitive ears and sitting sandwiched between Grace and Norm made me feel stuck.

I was beginning to believe that I had both aviophobia and claustrophobia.

It also didn’t help that Trudy liked to do flight tricks. As we passed over a waterfall she suddenly dropped the ship downwards, turning sharply so that the ship grazed the falls. Jake whooped like an excited kid on a roller coaster while I squeezed my eyes shut in terror, silently pleading that we would land soon.

My wish came true ten minutes later when Trudy did finally land the Samson in the middle of a small clearing. The moment the ship touched the ground I slid out right alongside Jake who was already holding his rifle up and looking around for any signs of danger.

I exhaled. Thank god that was over with.

We walked around to the front of the Samson where Grace was telling Trudy to shut it down because we were going to be staying out for a while.

“You okay, Danny?” Norm asked as he put his backpack on, “you seemed a bit tense there for a moment.”

I rubbed a hand over her face. “I’m fine,” I replied, “just glad to be back on the ground.”

Norm nodded. “Oh right, I forgot you don’t like to fly.”

We formed a group, making sure we had everything we needed before starting our hike into the forest. Lyle Wainfleet, the creepy marine whose name I learned of during our flight, took a step forward as if he was going to join us on our trek. Noooo!

Thankfully, Grace wasn’t going to allow it.

“Stay with the ship,” she told him, “one idiot with a gun is enough.”

I didn’t realize my shoulders had tensed up until they dropped in relief. I just didn’t want my first hike to be spoiled by the likes of that jerkface.

Although I kinda felt bad that Trudy was going to be stuck with him for god knew how long. Then again Trudy seemed like a take-names-and-kick-ass kind of a woman so there was really nothing to worry about.

I admired people like that.

“You the man, Doc.” Wainfleet said as his eyes darted from tree to tree.

I happily walked around him and followed the rest of my team into the trees.

* * *

 

The forest was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.

It stretched on indefinitely. Towering trees were covered in thick moss and colorful fungi. Shifting patterns of sunlight danced across the foliage, creating different shades and patterns of green before my eyes.  

As we pushed through the thick, leafy undergrowth I found myself rubbernecking at every new sound whenever an unseen animal cried out or insects buzzed by.

Jake was just as jumpy. The grip on his rifle tightened every time he heard a noise. Like when a group of four armed, yellow and blue monkey-like creatures suddenly swung overhead through the tree branches. Jake instantly raised his gun at them, ready to fire in case the creatures decided to have us for lunch.

“It’s okay, they’re prolemuris,” Grace told him, “they’re not aggressive.”

Unconvinced, Jake kept his gun raised until Grace came up to him.

“Relax, marine,” she said as she put her hand on the gun’s barrel and pushed it down. “You’re making me nervous.”

We continued on.

“Isn’t this awesome, Danny?” Norm asked, whispering excitedly to me.

I grinned back. “Yeah! It’s pretty amazing.” I reached out and touched a few burgundy blossoms that grew along some twisted lianas. All the brilliant colors I saw were just fantastic.

I wondered if Earth used to look just as beautiful before mankind destroyed it all.

We walked around a wide tree and arrived at a large, hut-like structure. What was left of it anyway. Vines and weeds grew out from gaps where wooden boards had caved in and the thatched roof looked like it had seen better days.

Chills ran down my back. I couldn’t explain it but the place gave me the creeps. It was just an abandoned building but somehow it felt…. spooky. Haunted.

“This was our school,” Grace explained as we followed her up the porch steps and through the open doorway, “now it’s just storage. The kids were so bright, eager to learn. Picked up English faster than I could teach it.”

I had heard about Grace’s school during my avatar training. It had lasted for about ten years until it was suddenly discontinued. None of my instructors would really explain why.

“Why did they leave?” Norm asked as he set his backpack down on an empty desk.

Grace remained quiet for a moment as she opened a case full of science equipment. “The Omaticaya…learned as much about us as they needed to.”

I looked around the schoolroom. Some toy building blocks and children’s books lay scattered around the floor. I recognized a few titles like The Lorax and Where the Wild Things Are. I smiled a little, remembering when I used to read those books back in kindergarten.

I picked them off the floor and brushed the dirt off of them before handing the books to Grace.

She smiled. “Oh yeah, I love these ones. The Stingbats keep knockin’ them down,” she said as she took the books and set them back on their shelf. “I keep hoping someone will come back and read these.”

I took my backpack off and looked into the case that Grace had opened. “So what should we take with us?” I asked.

“Well, I’m thinking we should take some of these pH monitors, couple of soil probes, and –“

“What happened here?” Jake suddenly asked.

I looked over and saw Jake standing next to the blackboard. He was pointing to the unmistakable bullet holes in the side of the board.

My eyes went wide.

Oh my god. Had there… been a _shooting_ at the school? With the _kids_?!

That would actually explain a few things, like the bad blood between the Na’vi and the RDA. It would explain why the Na’vi attacked the avatars. It wasn’t just because they were upset about losing their land. Oh no, it was so much worse.

I recalled what Shawn had told me while we were talking about his friend Randy. _“Can’t really blame them, the Na’vi. Not after what we put them through.”_ I had wondered what he meant exactly at the time. Now it made more sense.

I looked at Grace and caught her gazing sadly at the bullet holes. Then the look was gone, replaced with irritation as she flicked her golden eyes to Jake.

“You gonna help us with this gear?” She asked sharply, ignoring his question. “We’ve got a lot to do.”

Grace turned her back to him and returned to packing. Jake frowned, annoyed that she was giving him the brushoff. He looked at me for answers but I shook my head.

There was a lot more going on than what I had been led to believe.

* * *

 

“And here I go,” Grace said as she inserted a needle into a mossy tree root.

She had led us some ways behind the school to a thick grove of trees. Norm and I sat with Grace among the twisted roots - our packs, notebooks and data pads scattered about. Jake stood off to the side and kicked at the ground, looking bored out of his mind.

“Scanning,” Norm said as he held the data pad over the needle. I looked over his shoulder in interest as the pad showed waves of energy radiating from where the needle had been inserted and spread out like ripples along the rest of the tree roots.

“Woah,” we said in unison, “it’s that fast?”

Grace giggled at our fascination. “Amazing isn’t it? That is signal transduction from this root to the root of the tree next to it, so we should take a sample.”

I scooted out of the way as Norm reached for his pack to take out a sample container. I noticed he grabbed some _pastanhí_ that he had tucked away in his bag (I had gotten him hooked on those) and shoved a handful into his mouth.

“You know,” Norm said with his cheeks full of berries, “it’s probably electrochemical based on the speed of the reaction.” As he spoke, a bit of drool dripped from the corner of Norm’s lips and fell onto the tree root. Ew.

Grace looked unamused. “Norm you’ve contaminated the sample with your saliva.”

“Errr…right.” He said as he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

I shook my head. I loved Norm like a brother but he could be such a herp derp sometimes, like Ronald Weasley from Harry Potter.

I pursed my lips thoughtfully as Grace and Norm took another sample from the roots, thinking about the waves of energy I had seen and how they were able to spread from one root to the next without even touching.

“Just like synapses,” I murmured.

Grace looked at me. “Pardon?”

I tucked back a few strands of my black hair that had fallen into my face. “It seemed like when you inserted the needle into the root,” I said, “that information spread among the rest of the trees letting them know there was a disturbance. Kinda like how a nerve impulse travels down an axon of neuron and diffuses across the synaptic cleft to the next neuron. So, there must be biochemical transmitters between the roots of the trees for that communication to happen.”

Grace stared at me for a moment, her expression unreadable. Oh crap. Did I say something wrong?

I saw a smile spread across her face.

“Not bad, kid.” She said as she closed the lid on the sample container and handed it back to Norm. She turned on the ground so that she sat facing me directly. “So then here’s a question for you: if that is the case do you think that means that the trees have a cognitive awareness?”

Hm. That was a good point. My synapse hypothesis implied that the trees had some kind of awareness. But how could that be? Trees and plants didn’t have a consciousness…did they?

Before I could think on it any further, a high pitched roar echoed through the jungle.

Grace was instantly on her feet. “That sounded like a hammerhead titanothere,” her ears perked up in alertness as she scanned the dense foliage in front of us, “where’s your brother?” She asked me.

I looked to where I had last seen Jake standing, my heart sinking when I saw that he was gone.

Oh god no.

“C’mon!” Grace hurried through the undergrowth with Norm and I close behind her.

Jake hadn’t actually wandered that far and we came upon him within seconds. His rifle raised and ready to fire at an enormous titanothere a few yards away from him.

The titanothere, also known as _angtsik_ in the Na’vi language, was a six-legged, massive version of Earth’s rhinoceros except it had bone protruding from the sides of its head in the shape of a hammer.

Had it not been staring down my brother, I would have thought it was cool.

“Don’t shoot!” Grace hissed at Jake as we stopped behind a few bushes to use as cover. “Don’t shoot or you’ll piss him off.”

The titanothere roared again as it stomped and bashed its bulky head against the thinner trees, snapping them in two.

“It’s already pissed off!” Jake exclaimed, panic lacing his tone.

“Jake its body armor is too thick, trust me.” Grace snapped.

Jake reluctantly pointed the gun away towards the canopy. The titanothere wasn’t convinced as it angrily scratched at the forest floor and lifted its fan of pink and blue feathers atop its head.

“It’s a territorial threat display,” Grace spoke calmly, “do not run or he’ll charge.”

Damn, Grace sure had her shit together.

Meanwhile, I was having a nervous breakdown watching the scene unfold. Come on Jake, don’t do anything stupid!

“So what do I do? Dance with it?” Jake asked, desperate for a way to get out his predicament.

“Just…hold your ground.”

 _Hold your ground?!_ I wanted to shout at Grace. What the hell was that gonna do? The titanothere was five times bigger than Jake. If he didn’t get out of the way if it charged, I would end up having to scrape him off of the ground. And that sure as hell wasn’t going to happen.

To my horror, the titanothere charged anyway. I clamped my hand over my mouth to keep from screaming. Norm wrapped a tight arm around my waist like that was his way of providing moral support. To our amazement, Jake let out a loud cry of his own and ran at the creature.

The colorful fans on the titanothere’s head flattened as it halted a mere few feet in front of Jake. A raucous trill left its throat as it took a few steps back, eyeing Jake uncertainty.

Jake seemed immensely pleased with himself. “Yeah! Come on! What you got?” He yelled. “Oh yeah, who’s bad? That’s right! Yeah, that’s what I’m talking about bitch!”

I could hardly believe my eyes as the titanothere suddenly turned and ran back to its herd in the background, letting out a frightened squeal.

No. Fucking. Way.

I deflated against Norm in relief and rolled my eyes as Jake continued with his taunting. Typical Jake. “Yeah, get your punk ass back to mommy! Next time why don’t you bring back some of your friends, huh?”

Jake looked over his shoulder and grinned at me.

But his triumph was short lived when a low and menacing growl sounded from behind him.

Oh _fuck._

It wasn’t Jake that had scared the titanothere way.

My heart leapt into my throat as a huge and black cat-like beast jumped down from the trees and landed in front of my brother.

It was a thanator!

Time seemed to slow as the thanator turned on its six paws to face Jake, snarling and flashing it’s shiny razor sharp fangs at him.

"So what about this one?”  Jake glanced toward Grace, rifle pointed at the thanator. “Run? Don't run? What?"

"Run!" Grace bellowed, "Definitely run!"

And Jake did as he was told. The thanator hot on his heels as he tore off into the trees.

“JAKE!” I shrieked. No, no, no this wasn’t happening! Jake was my only family. I couldn’t lose him too, I just couldn’t! Not now. Not like this.

I knew what I had to do. Although it was beyond stupid. There was no chance in hell I could save Jake from a thanator.

But I would _not_ leave him to die alone like Tommy had.

 _Fuck it all_ , I told myself as I tore out of Norm’s grasp, ignoring Grace’s screams for me to stay back as I bolted after the thanator.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uh-oh! Danny's gonna go chasing after the big bad thanator! Any guesses on what might happen? ;)


	6. Lost and Found

_Mesmerized within your eyes_

_Yet something tells me to beware_

_I don’t know anything_

_Your song it drives me to despair_

_When I turn around to hold you_

_I’m alone, you’re not there…_

**[Niiv – OMNIA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4FM7clrWHw) **

* * *

The trees flew past me in blurs of green and brown.

I honestly didn’t know if I was even breathing, blinking, or running. It was if my body was operating on its own while my brain tried to process what the hell was happening.

All I knew is that I had to get to Jake.

Up ahead, I could hear the thanator angrily crashing through the forest as it chased after my brother. Its roars were so loud my ears rang.

I skidded to a halt when I came upon the thanator furiously scratching and gnawing at a small tunnel made of tangled tree roots. Bits of bark flew everywhere as it tried to get at something that wriggled beneath the roots - a flash of blue skin and khakis.

My hand flew to my mouth. Jake was trapped underneath and the thanator was seconds away from ripping apart the roots and snapping him up for an afternoon snack.  

Suddenly the jungle was filled with the deafening noise of rapid gunfire from Jake’s rifle.

Crap! I almost forgot he had a gun. I instantly dove behind a tree to avoid getting hit by stray bullets.

I peeked around the tree I hid behind and flinched at the thanator’s cry of outrage as it dodged the onslaught of bullets. Just when I thought Jake might actually win this fight the thanator unexpectedly plunged its head between the roots, seizing Jake’s rifle with its jaws and flinging it away.

Aargh! I couldn’t just stand there! I had to do something! Anything that would distract the thanator so that Jake could escape. Anxiously I glanced around and spotted some hefty stones that were large enough to fit into my hand. 

_Bingo!_

Not stopping to think about how much of a batshit crazy idea this was gonna be, I snatched up a couple of the stones. I clutched one in my right hand and stepped out from my hiding spot, eyeing the the thanator.

I reached my arm back and flung the rock with all of my might.

“Hey! Kitty cat!” I shouted.

The rock slammed against the thanator’s head. Well, damn! That was a good shot.

The thanator spun around to see who threw the rock, temporarily forgetting about Jake just like I wanted.

It snarled when it saw me and I gulped. My nerve wavered now that I had its attention. Yeeaaah, I really didn’t think this through. Right about now is when I wished I had magical powers or something to get Jake and I out of this.

While I stood face to face with death itself I realized just how freakin’ huge and muscular this big black cat was. It waved its thick armored tail back and forth and bared its knife-like teeth, locking its yellow eyes with mine.

I froze.

No wonder the Na’vi called the thanator _palulukan_ \- the bringer of fear.

“DANNY!”

Jake’s scream managed to snap me out of the thanator’s trance. It hissed wildy when it saw Jake, having wormed his way out from under the tree roots.

Two things happen at once.

As Jake lunged for his rifle on the ground the thanator pounced on him, sinking its teeth into the pack that he had slung over his shoulders. It roughly shook Jake from side to side like a rag doll.

But Jake was cunning.

I watched in awe as he unbuckled the pack’s strap around his chest, allowing the momentum of the thanator’s shaking to hurl him away.

His body hit the ground with a _thud._  I darted across the ground to reach him, not wasting the precious few seconds we had while the thanator was still distracted by Jake’s backpack.

Jake scrambled to his feet the moment I got to him, latching onto my wrist.

“WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?!” He yelled, yanking me along as we ran like hell through the bushes.

I didn’t bother replying as the thanator roared behind us, pissed off that it had been tricked, and chased after us.

Up ahead I saw the cliffs and the waterfall we were heading straight for and I realized what Jake intended to do. The thanator was closing in on us. I could practically feel its hot breath on my back.

It was our only hope of escape.

"JUMP!" Jake shouted as we leapt over the edge of the cliff.

I only had a few seconds to remember to keep my legs straight as I plummeted into the rushing waters below.

_SPLASH!_

The river swallowed me under when I hit the surface, the impact causing me to slip out of Jake’s grasp. Water stung my eyes, momentarily blinding me as the swirling currents quickly swept me away downstream. I overturned several times before I could claw my way back to the surface.

I coughed and sputtered when I reached the surface again, frantically flailing my arms to keep afloat against the current. It was no use though and the water sucked me back under once more. I managed to grab a hold of a long branch connected to a log that had fallen into the river and hoisted myself up, holding on for dear life as I gasped for breath.

“Jake?” I called out while looking around for any sign of my brother or the thanator. Panic ballooned inside me when I saw that I completely alone in the middle of nowhere.

Oh shit.

“JAKE!” I yelled as loud as I could over the whooshing of the river, straining my ears to hear for his voice.

No response.

“Fuck!” I cursed as I began to precariously crawl along the log to get back to dry land. My hands slipped a few times on the wet wood while trying to go along as fast as possible. What happened to Jake? Was he ok? Was he hurt? Did the thanator manage to get him after all?

A sob bubbled up in my throat. Dying while in the avatar body was extremely dangerous to the human operating it on the other side, both psychologically and physically. Theoretically, even the human body could die if the experience was traumatic enough.

The thought of Jake dying or him not being able to link to his avatar and walk again broke my heart.  

Finally, I made it to the end of the log and clumsily climbed off. I sat on the ground for a moment and thumbed away the tears in my eyes. No, I couldn’t cry now. I had to be strong. I needed to think clearly, find Jake, and get back to Grace and Norm in one piece.

I could already hear Grace’s lecture to me about how insanely reckless I was for running off like I did. Especially after a thanator of all things. I really hoped I didn’t see another one of those anytime soon.

Grace was definitely gonna kill me when I got back. Jake too if he made it out alive. I deserved it. I was crazy for taking off and I didn’t exactly help much. In fact I could have easily made things worse.

But staying put with Norm and Grace didn’t feel right to me either. I couldn’t let Jake face that kind of danger alone out here. Tommy had died alone and I felt like I owed it to him to make sure that didn’t happen to Jake.

Wiping my nose, I stood up. I had to start searching for Jake. Hopefully Grace would find us too. She was probably already up on the Samson looking for us.

I began moving up the river bank towards the waterfall where we jumped off at, earning a few scrapes and bruises as I pushed my way through the thicket. Ugh my wet clothes were heavy and clingy against my skin and my soaked hiking boots made annoying _squish squash_ sounds every time I took a step.

On top of it all my stomach gurgled. Man, I was gettin’ hungry. Heh. Being chased by a thanator would do that.

Suddenly I heard something. A slight rustling of leaves to my left.

I stopped...Could it be?

“Jake?” I called out, “is that you?”

My pointed ears twitched. I heard another rustle, only this time it came from behind me. Chills prickled down my skin. Why did I feel like I was been watched?

“Jake?”

_Fwump!_

I shrieked when something grabbed me from behind and threw me hard against a trunk of a tree, knocking the wind right out of me. What the?!

A hand wrapped around my neck, squeezing tightly but not enough to choke me. Yet.

I looked up into the face of my attacker and gawked.

The person standing before me definitely wasn’t Jake.

It was a Na’vi woman!

The woman had me firmly pinned against the tree. Jeez, she was hella strong! Her ears flattened against her head and her lips drew back into a snarl that would rival a thanator’s. Her golden eyes glared at me as she held a sharp dagger to my chest.

Oh my god. Why was everything trying to kill me today?! 

 _“F-ftang!”_ I stuttered in Na’vi, hoping I could talk my way out of this. _“Rutxe!”_

A flicker of surprise cross the woman’s face, almost like she was shocked that I would speak in the native language.

But then her eyes narrowed. _“Uniltìrantokx are forbidden here,”_ she hissed as she pressed the tip of her dagger further against my chest. _“I ought to kill you where you stand.”_

My heart jumped into my throat for the upteenth time that day. _“No! Please,”_ I begged, _“I-I didn’t know it was forbidden! Really! I’m sorry. I’m lost and, well, it’s a long story but-“_

My ramblings were cut short when something white and shimmering caught my eye up above in the canopy. It looked like seed of some kind. It floated through the air like a jellyfish in the sea.

Then I realized what I was seeing.

The Na’vi called them _atokirina_ . They were sacred seeds that bared omens from Eywa, the Na’vi goddess made up of all living things.

The woman glanced up to see what I was staring at, her lips parting in shock when she saw the _atokirina_ too. We held our breath as we watched it descend towards us, coming to rest on the woman’s drawn dagger.

I briefly forgot about my predicament as we stared at the little seed in wonderment. Wow, I couldn’t believe I was actually looking at an _atokirina_ up close!

It was kinda cute.

With a flick of its thread-like tendrils it was off again, waving gracefully as it drifted away.

As I watched it leave I felt the dagger drop from my chest and the woman’s hand retreat from my neck. She took a step back and stared at me in bewilderment. Wait, she wasn’t going to slit my throat after all?

 _“You’re not going to kill me?”_  I asked, my voice trembling a little. 

 _“Eywa has spared your life,”_ the woman stated as if it was obvious. _“I will not harm you.”_

Oh. Well, thanks Eywa.

The woman and I eyed one another, sizing each other up. Now that she was standing back and not all up in my face trying to kill me, I got a better look at her.

An impressive bow and a small quiver of arrows was strung across her back. Her long black hair was plaited into thin braids adorned with beads and her arms were decorated with pretty bracelets. She wore a teal loincloth and a necklace of colorful feathers that barely covered her boobs. Wow, the Na’vi didn’t really have any qualms about being naked did they?

Even so, she was beautiful. Gorgeous even.

Me on the other hand? I probably looked like shit after my chase with the thantor and swim in the river. Man, I hoped I didn’t have twigs sticking out of my hair because it sure felt like it.

Suddenly the woman spoke. _“You should not be here,”_ she said as she turned to leave, _“go back to your kelku.”_

Alarmed that she was leaving, I stepped after her. _“Wait, don’t go!”_ I pleaded. Maybe she could help me find Jake. _“Please. I need help. I lost my brother and I don’t know how to get back.”_

She looked over her shoulder at me. _“Your brother?”_

I nodded. _“We encountered palulukan in the forest and got separated trying to escape. I need to find him. Can you help me?”_

I couldn’t read the expression on the woman’s face as she frowned which made me anxious. Damn, she had a great poker face. I held my breath and hoped she would say yes.

Finally, she made her decision. _“I will help you.”_

I sagged in relief, clasping my hands together. _“Irayo!  Thank you so much!”_

She raised her hand for me to be quiet. _“There are conditions. You will stay close and follow what I do. To move through the forest you must be silent. Take those off,”_ she pointed to my hiking boots, glaring at them.

My brow wrinkled in confusion. Uh...what?

 _“Why?”_ I asked. 

_“They make noise. If palulukan is near we must be as quiet as possible.”_

Oh. That made sense. I definitely did not want to alert any thanators to our presence although I was a little leery about walking around barefoot. I mean, what if I stepped on something?

But hey, if the Na’vi could do it then I could too, right?

I plopped down on the ground to remove my boots and socks while the woman waited with her hand on her hip. I had to admit it did feel nice to take off the boots especially since they were still soaking wet. I stood back up and was about to reach for my boots so that I could take them with me but the woman had other ideas. 

 _“Leave them.”_ She said. 

_“What?”_

The look on her face told me she wasn’t kidding. _“Leave them,”_ she repeated, _“they are useless here.”_

Internally, I sighed. Great. Grace wasn’t going to be happy that I lost a pair of shoes. Clothing for the avatars was expensive since everything had to be custom made to fit their size. But I wasn’t about to argue with the Na’vi woman who had held a knife to me only moments ago so I quickly tucked my socks and boots away beneath a patch of ferns. 

 _“Now,”_ she said, _“show me where you last saw your brother.”_

I pointed up the river. _“At the waterfall.”_

She looked to where I pointed and gestured for me to follow. _“ Za’u,”_ she said as she quickly disappeared into the trees.

I glanced back to where I had left my shoes.

“Goodbye boots,” I whispered before hurrying after the woman.

* * *

After Danny had disappeared after the thanator, Grace and Norm grabbed their science equipment and hightailed it back to Trudy’s Samson despite Norm’s protests.

“We can’t just leave!” He argued. “We have to go after them!”

“We are no match for a thanator on foot!” Grace argued back. “We’ll have a better advantage up in the air. Besides, I don’t need you running off too!”

They flew out of the bushes and into the small clearing where the Samson had landed, scaring the crap out of Lyle Wainfleet. Grace didn’t have time for his bullshit and ran straight for the ship.

“Get this thing up and running!” Grace shouted to Trudy who was inspecting the ship’s turbines, “Jake and Danny are in danger!”

The brunette pilot immediately slipped down from the ship and into the cockpit. Within moments the engines roared to life and they were back up in the sky.

Trudy contacted the base and got Max on the radio.

“Grace,” he said over the speaker, “what’s going on?”

“We lost Jake and Danny,” Grace told him. “Are they still linked up to their avatars?”

“Yeah, they’re still under. Although there have been a lot of fluctuations in their vitals like spikes of adrenaline and increased cardiovascular activity. What happened?”

 _They’re still alive,_ Grace thought, _for now anyway._ “Jake got cornered by a thanator and ran. Danny decided to go chase after them.” _Stupid girl! What the hell was she thinking?_

“Damn,” Max groaned, “well, we’ll keep a close watch on them and keep you updated on any changes.”

“Thank you. Meanwhile we’re going to try and search for them.”

And searched they did. For hours. Trudy flew the Samson in the direction where they had last seen Jake and Danny and circled out from there while Grace and Norm looked out with binoculars hoping to spot any sign of them.

No such luck.

Max would patch in every so often to let Grace know that they were still hooked up to their avatars. Interestingly, Danny’s vitals had stabilized somewhat while Jake’s continued to fluctuate. It seemed like the siblings had miraculously escaped the thanator but that didn’t mean that they would survive out in the jungle. Other things lurked in the trees that could kill them just as easily.

Dusk had begun to fall when Trudy decided to call it quits.

“I’m gonna have to call it guys,” she said over the Samson’s intercom. “We’re not allowed to run night ops. Colonel’s orders.”

Grace dropped her binoculars from her eyes and sighed. Damn it! They would be leaving Jake and Danny to their death out here.

“I’m sorry, Doc,” Trudy continued, her voice tainted with sympathy, “they’re just gonna have to hang on ‘til morning.”

Grace shook her head. “They won’t make it to the morning.” She muttered.

She leaned back as the Samson headed back to the base. She glanced over at Norm who was slumped over despondently in his seat, absently tracing circles on his binoculars. Grace felt a pang in her chest, knowing that this was hard for him since he and Danny were close friends.

She reached out and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.

“I’m sorry.”

* * *

 

We found Jake’s footprints.

After observing his trail it looked like he had gotten out of the river and had started downstream looking for me. But something must have spooked him because his prints suddenly turned sharply away from the river and were spread further apart as if he was running.

Whatever it was, I just hoped Jake got away alright.

As we tracked Jake through the jungle, I got brave enough to ask what the Na’vi woman’s name was.

 _“I am Neytiri, daughter of Mo’at.”_ She said.

I hummed. _“Neytiri? That’s a pretty name.”_

A teeny tiny hint of a smile flashed across her face. She glanced at me out of the corner of her eye.

 _“What is your name?”_ She asked me.

“Danielle Sully,” I replied with a grin, _“but everyone calls me_ Danny _for short.”_

 _“Da’ni?”_ Neytiri slowly repeated my name. The way she said it sounded cool in her native accent.

 _“That’s right,”_ I said.

_“Hm.”_

That was most conversation we had. The rest of the time was spent in silence while I watched her do her tracking thing. Every so often she would stop and kneel on the ground to touch the dirt and sniff the air. It was super fascinating how she was able to find her way around just by  observing the tiniest details in her surroundings.

I tried to move along as quietly as possible like Neytiri had instructed me to do, though I can’t say I was very successful. My feet weren’t used to walking barefoot especially for long periods of time. I couldn’t help but say “ow” whenever I stubbed a toe on something.  Neytiri would shoot me an annoyed glare every time.

The forest was getting darker and I realized that nighttime was falling and we still hadn’t found Jake. That is until Neytiri suddenly halted in her tracks and motioned for me to do the same.

 _“What is it?”_ I asked.

She pointed up ahead and I saw an orange light flickering in the distance. A fire! Which meant -

“Jake!” I started forward but Neytiri grabbed my arm, stopping me.

 _“Wait!”_ She hissed, her golden eyes darting from tree to tree. Her ears twitched as if listening to something.

Then I heard it - a chorus of yips and howls that got louder and louder by the second.

That didn’t sound good.

 _“Nantang!”_ Neytiri growled.

“Viperwolves?!” I squeaked in panic. Definitely not good!

Neytiri withdrew her bow and readied an arrow and hurried onward while I followed. As we got closer I could see a pack of several six legged black dogs surrounding Jake as he tried fight them off with a long fiery torch.

 _“Wait here!”_ Neytiri shouted to me as she leapt into the fray like a ninja, unleashing an arrow that pierced the side of a viperwolf that had managed to get Jake on his back.

 _Yep, better leave this to the professionals,_ I thought as I ducked behind a leafy bush to watch.

Neytiri spun around the clearing with the grace of a dancer, smacking viperwolves with her bow and slashing a few with her dagger. The viperwolves freaked out and scampered away into the forest, howling in terror. Neytiri hissed at them as they ran.

_Wow._

That was ...amazing. Terrifying, but amazing.

When the viperwolves left I hurried into the clearing to check on my brother.

“Jake!”

“Danny?!”

He pulled me into a tight hug the moment I reached him, ignoring the fact that he was super sweaty. I crumpled in his embrace, overjoyed that he was still alive and in one piece.

“Are you okay?” I asked when I pulled away. His t-shirt was torn in places and his arms and chest were covered in bloody scratches from the viperwolf brawl. “Oh my god! You’re bleeding!”

Jake shook his head. “Don’t worry about it, it's nothing.”  He looked me up and down. “What about you? How come you’re not wearing shoes?”

“I’m okay,” I said. “As for my boots...it’s a long story.”

He nodded, letting the subject drop, and looked behind me at Neytiri curiously.

“I made a friend,” I told him.

“I see that,” he said. I could tell he was just as impressed as I was after watching her chase off a pack of viperwolves single handedly. He might have even been a little aroused which wasn’t surprising.

Neytiri ignored us, muttering as she reached for the torch that Jake had dropped.

“Hey wait! Don’t!” Jake tried to protest but it was too late as she chucked it into a small stream that cut through the clearing, plunging us into darkness. For a moment anyway.

“Great,” Jake sighed.

Then the forest lit up and I gasped. I had almost forgotten that Pandora turned bioluminescent at night! Everything glowed in beautiful pinks, purples, blues and greens. Magical didn’t come close to describing it. It was like something out of a fairytale.

Even Jake was stunned by the beauty of it.

Breathless wimpers caught my attention, pulling me out of my wonderment. I turned to see Neytiri kneeling beside one of the viperwolves she shot.

It still hadn’t passed. Its pained whining made me feel queasy.

 _“Forgive me, my brother,”_ Neytiri murmured a prayer before driving her dagger into the viperwolf’s neck, silencing it. _“May your spirit run with Eywa.”_

Neytiri removed her arrow from its body and moved onto the next fallen creature. I couldn’t help but feel a pang of guilt that these animals died because of us, because we were clueless on how to survive out here in the jungle.

Jake leaned over my shoulder. “Does she speak English?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. I didn’t ask.”

Jake took a step towards Neytiri when she stood up, after removing her final arrow from the last viperwolf she killed.

“Look, I don’t know if you understand this,” he started, “but I just wanted to say thanks for killing these things -”

I flinched as Neytiri whipped around and slammed her bow across Jake's face, causing him to fall to the ground and swear loudly.

"Don't thank." Neytiri snarled at him in heavily accented English, surprising the hell out of Jake and I. "You don't thank for this. This is sad. Very sad only!"

Jake raised his hands in surrender. “Okay, okay,” he tried to soothe. “I’m sorry. Whatever I did I’m sorry.”

Neytiri growled as she pointed to the dead viperwolves with her bow. “All this is your fault. They did not need to die.”

Jake scoffed. "My fault? They attacked me. How am I the bad guy?"

"Your fault!” Neytiri shoved the tip of her bow in his face. “Your fault! You are stupid. Ignorant like a child!” She turned her furious gaze on me. Uh-oh. “Both of you! Making noise, don’t know what to do.”

Ouch.

Well, she did have a point.

Jake managed to get back on his feet, keeping an eye on Neytiri’s bow. “Alright, fine,” he said. “If you think we’re so stupid then why don’t you teach us? You’d be doing your little forest friends a favor.”

His suggestion took both Neytiri and I by surprise. Since when was he so interested in learning anything remotely Na’vi? I could barely get him to read any of the books on Na’vi culture before we left Earth, in hopes he would have some kind of preparation. So where was this coming from?

Neytiri shook her head. “Sky people cannot learn. You do not see.”

“Then teach us how to see.”

“No one can teach you to see.”

While they argued, movement in the canopy caught my eye. I looked up and my mouth dropped open at what I saw.

“Uh, guys?”

They looked at me and I pointed upwards.

Dozens of _atokirina_ glided through the air above us. Neytiri sucked in a breath, taking a step backwards to watch the little white seeds descend around Jake and I. I stood very still as a few of the seeds decided to rest on me, tickling my head and shoulders.

I couldn't believe that I was seeing _atokirina_ for the second time that day. What the heck was happening?

Jake, who didn’t understand the significance of the seeds, tried to bat them away.

“No! Stop!” Neytiri snapped as she latched onto his arm to get him to hold still. “Wait.”

Reluctantly, he followed her advice and let the seeds land on him. “What are they?” He asked.

“Seeds of the sacred tree,” Neytiri answered, “very pure spirits.”

The seeds lingered on us, for a moment or two, before collectively flying off into the air. We stood there in awe and watched them leave in a swirl of white.

Jake was the first to speak. “What was that all about?”

Neytiri muttered something before approaching us, tugging on our wrists. “Come with me,” she said, turning on her heels and hurrying into the trees.

Jake and I glanced at each other. “Better do what she says,” I said as I followed after her.

The three of us jogged for several minutes.

As we trotted along, Jake would occasionally ask where we were headed but his attention kept getting diverted by the glowing flora we past. He got distracted at one point and I couldn’t help but smirk when he childishly slapped his hand against a plant to watch it flair colorfully in response.

I wanted to do it too but Neytiri didn’t have time for our antics.

“Come!” She urged from up ahead, causing us to look away from the jungle plants.

We rushed to catch up.

Just as we were crossing over a gigantic tree root that acted like a kind of bridge, I suddenly heard something slice through the air. Jake abruptly latched onto me, swearing and grunting, as we both tumbled over the edge.

I screamed as we plummeted to the ground. Jake landed on top of me, knocking the air out of my lungs.

“What the hell?” I coughed as Jake rolled off and hastily unraveled a sling wrapped around his ankles.

My eyes nearly popped out of their sockets when a group of direhorses with Na’vi riders jumped out of the bushes in front of us. I felt Jake grab my arm to make a run for it but we were stopped when another group of Na’vi hunters materialized from the trees behind us.

They yipped threateningly, bows drawn and arrows pointed right at us.

Oh shit.

We were surrounded.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you’ve enjoyed this so far!
> 
> Next chapter - we finally get to meet the Omaticaya clan! Fun times are ahead ;)
> 
> Na’vi translations:
> 
> Ftang - Stop
> 
> Rutxe - Please
> 
> Uniltirantokx - Avatar / Dreamwalker 
> 
> Kelku - Home / Base
> 
> Irayo - Thank you
> 
> Za’u - Come
> 
> Nantang - Viperwolf(s)


	7. A Twist of Fate

_I can talk to the trees_

_But I don't speak Human_

_Got a heart full of Earth and a head full of sky_

_I got spirit drum wolf claw raven's eye_

[Crazy Man - OMNIA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQiivlOZz1E)

* * *

 

Being encircled by a group of angry hunters with arrows shoved into my face wasn’t exactly what I had in mind when I imagined meeting the Na’vi for the first time.

But then again, life rarely played out the way you wanted it to.

I tried to make myself look less of a threat while I kept close to Jake. The Na’vi who surrounded us were beyond pissed that we were in their territory. Just when I began to wonder if these were gonna be our last few seconds alive Neytiri jumped down from above and landed in front of us, coming to our rescue once again.

 _"Mawey, Na’viya!”_ She barked at the hunters. “ _Mawey!”_

One of the men riding the direhorses dismounted and stormed toward us. He wore an elaborately beaded choker and his hair was shaved away on the sides of his head. The rest of his hair was braided back with a few smaller braids dangling on the left side of his sharp face.

He looked downright murderous.

 _"What are you doing, Tsu'tey?"_ Neytiri asked, taking a stand between us and the man that approached. 

 _"These demons are forbidden here."_ The man, Tsu'tey, spat like the words were fowl in his mouth. “ _I will kill these two as a warning to the others.”_

I gulped.

 _"Stop! There has been a sign!"_ Neytiri growled, _"It is a matter for the Tsahik."_

Hearing this, I wasn’t sure if I should feel relieved or terrified. They wouldn’t kill us. Not yet anyway. I thought back to my studies on Na’vi culture and recalled that the _Tsahik_ was a clan’s spiritual leader. Neytiri was going to take us to see their _Tsahik,_ probably to determine what the _atokirina_ meant by landing on Jake and I.

Whatever it meant, I just hoped we got out of this mess alive and unharmed. Our survival depended on what the _Tsahik_ would say.  
  
Tsu’tey glared at us.

 _"Bring them.”_ He rumbled before turning away and mounting his direhorse again. 

Suddenly someone grabbed my queue braid in their fist and brought a dagger to rest against the nape of my neck, the coId blade biting into my skin. A painful sensation radiated into my skull from my neural fibers being pinched, making me wince.  
  
It occurred to me that the Na’vi holding my queue would gladly slice it off if I didn’t mind my p’s and q’s.  
  
So while Jake struggled against his captors, demanding to know what the hell was happening as we were pushed forward, I went along without an argument.

* * *

It amazed me how out of shape Jake and I were compared to the Na’vi surrounding us. They were basically pro-athletes. Of course they had to be in order to survive out in the wilderness. Something simple like running around in the forest was a cakewalk for them.

I couldn’t help but feel a bit envious.

Sure, our avatar bodies looked fit and toned but they were not trained to run long distances. While the hunters moved along effortlessly, not even panting or breaking into a sweat, we huffed and puffed as we hurried through the forest.

A few of the hunters were annoyed by this.

“ _They breathe loud!”_ A young woman’s voice from behind me complained. She must have been the one holding onto my queue braid.

One of the younger men keeping tabs on Jake agreed with her. “ _They stink too.”_

The hunter in front of us, an older male, looked sharply over his shoulder at them. _“Ka’ani, Saeyla, be quiet!”_

The young hunters obeyed and fell silent. I tried to dial down my panting so I wouldn’t continue to annoy anybody.

The direhorse riders galloped ahead of us. We followed them out of the jungle and over a bridge that stretched above a wide river.

I gawked in amazement when I saw where we were headed.

A gigantic tree loomed ahead of us. And I mean _gigantic._ I had seen some pretty big trees but damn! This tree was practically a skyscraper. It had to be at least a hundred and fifty meters tall.

This had to be where the Omaticaya clan resided. _Kelutral,_ or Hometree, as they called it.

Once we crossed the bridge, the direhorse riders quickly disappeared into the main entrance of the tree while Jake and I were shoved inside.

All around us were Na'vi.

Men, women and children gathered around as we were paraded through. Some hissed angrily at us, some yipped, but most of the Na'vi stared and muttered as we passed. One male reached out and slapped Jake on the arm. Another one tugged at my shirt. But none of them moved to attack us. Instead they parted to make a path for the group of hunters that dragged us along.

I glanced around at the internal structure of the place. The inside was hollow with many columns that formed a large central area. It looked as though several smaller trees had intertwined together a long time ago to eventually form one massive tree. The branches and limbs twisted at the core to form a natural spiral staircase.

It was pretty impressive to say the least.  
  
Our guards pulled us to a stop in front of an imposing skull of a monstrous beast. Beneath it stood a man heavily decorated in beads, feathers, and bones. Judging by his ornate jewelry and proud stature, I had to assume that this man was _Olo’eyktan_ \- the clan leader. Or maybe even the _Tsahik._ At the moment I wasn’t sure which.

Next to the man stood Tsu’tey. The two of them quietly discussed something only pausing to eye us when we approached. I seized Jake’s hand, needing some sense of security since our fate was about to be decided. Jake squeezed my hand back as if to tell me it was going to be okay.  
  
Neytiri stepped forward.  
  
_"Father,"_ she said as she brought her fingers to her forehead and pulled them away in greeting, _"oel ngati kameie.”_

My eyebrows shot up in surprise. Wait a sec, this guy was Neytiri’s father?! The clan leader and the _Tsahik_ were always a mated pair and if Neytiri was their daughter... then that meant she was considered a princess among the clan.

Well, I’ll be damned. I had been hanging out with a princess all day!

The man moved to walk in front of Jake and I. His lips were pulled down in a frown, his hard expression unreadable as he studied us. Now I knew where Neytiri got her poker face from.

He looked at Neytiri. _“These creatures,”_ he said, voice cavernous, _“why did you bring them here?”_

" _I brought them to see mother,”_ Neytiri quickly replied, _“there was a sign from Eywa, unlike anything I had ever seen before.”_

The man’s golden eyes narrowed. _“I have said no uniltìranyu will come here...”_

While he spoke, Jake leaned toward my ear. “What’s he saying?”

“Ssh!” I whispered, swiping my tail against the back of his leg in hopes he would get the message to stay quiet.

He grumbled, annoyed that I wasn’t going to translate for him.

I turned my attention back to the conversation just as the man remarked, _“their alien stench fills my nose.”_

Laughter rippled among the gathered Na’vi at the man’s comment, making me look down at the ground self-consciously. Jeez, Jake and I must have really smelled rank. Sorry, guys.

At this point Jake was fed up with being kept out of the loop. "What's he saying?" He demanded, his tone raising.  
  
Neytiri glanced back at him. "My father is deciding whether to kill you.” She quietly explained.  
  
Jake’s eyes widened. "... Your father?"  
  
Suddenly Jake moved forward, offering his hand to Neytiri’s father. Oh bad idea! Bad idea! I squeaked in alarm as the surrounding Na’vi lunged toward Jake, hissing and snarling, to protect their leader from any offence that he had to offer.

Since I was still holding Jake’s hand I yanked him backwards and shot him a warning glare. Any disrespect on our part would have us killed in seconds.

 _“Stand back!”_ A strong feminine voice rang out over the crowd.

Chills ran down my back when I saw an older woman wrapped in a beautiful red beaded shawl descend down the spiral stairs.

 _“I will look at these aliens,”_ the woman said as she walked straight toward us. Her black hair was intricately plaited and I noticed that her queue was braided to the front of her body rather than the back.

Neytiri respectfully inclined her head to the woman. “That is mother,” she whispered to us, “she is _Tsahik_ . The one who interprets the will of Eywa.”  
  
"Who's Eywa?" Jake asked.

I couldn’t help but roll my eyes at his ignorance. Clearly Jake hadn’t bothered to read the textbooks that I had given him about Na’vi culture. Eywa had been chapter one of the avatar training manual.  
  
The _Tsahik_ strode past her daughter and slowly circled Jake and I. If I recalled correctly Neytiri had mentioned to me earlier that her mother’s name was Mo’at. She examined us as she walked around, pulling at our queue and tails.

I took a deep breath to try to calm my hammering heart. It was absolutely imperative that we didn’t fuck this up and get killed.

"What are you called?" Mo’at asked Jake, speaking in English.  
  
"Jake Sully."  
  
Her golden eyes flicked to me.  
  
"Danny," I said, offering a small smile.

Mo’at regarded us for a moment before withdrawing a thin bone knife from a long necklace she wore. My eyes went wide as she quickly jabbed the tip into Jake’s chest, making him grunt. She brought the knife to her mouth and dragged the bloodied point along her tongue. Uhhh...what the hell?

She looked at me and I realized I was up next for this weird test. Oh _fuuu-_

I flinched as she swiped the knife across the skin of my arm. Luckily it only hurt for a split second like when I had my ears pierced for my sixteenth birthday. I watched as the _Tsahik_ tasted my blood, her eyes narrowing. Was that a good thing or a bad thing?  
  
"Why did you come to us?" She demanded as she slipped the bone knife back into her necklace.  
  
"We came to learn." Jake answered, not skipping a beat.  
  
Mo’at wasn’t impressed. "We have tried to teach other Sky People," she said, her tone low, "it is hard to fill a cup which is already full."  
  
Jake shrugged. "Well, my cup is empty, trust me,” he assured. "Just ask Grace Augustine. I'm no scientist."  
  
"What are you?"  
  
"I was a marine,” he said, “a, uh, a warrior of the Jarhead Clan."

Had I been anywhere other than our current situation, I would have facepalmed. Seriously bro? That was the best he could come up with? Jarhead clan, indeed.  
  
_"A warrior?”_ Tsu’tey questioned, taking a few steps forward. “ _I could kill him easily!"_

Neytiri’s father, who I had figured out as the clan leader, stopped him.  
  
_"No!”_ He said. _“This is the first warrior uniltìranyu we have seen. We need to learn more about him."_

Mo’at looked at me curiously then. “And you, girl?” She asked. “What are you among your people?”

I swallowed, my throat dry now that everyone’s attention was on me. “I’m a doctor,” I replied.  Mo’at stared at me, waiting for me to elaborate. “I... study medicine to treat diseases.”

“A healer, then?”

I shrugged a little. “You could say that. Yes.”  
  
She looked thoughtful for a moment before turning to Neytiri. _"Ma ‘ite,"_ she said, speaking in Na’vi once more, _"you will teach them our ways. To speak and walk as we do."_

Neytiri was not thrilled about that idea at all. “ _Why me?”_ She complained. “ _That’s not fair. I only -”_

 Mo’at raised her hand, _“Oe pe’un!”_ She declared with a note of finality. Neytiri hissed in annoyance.

The _Tsahik_ looked back at Jake and I. “It is decided. My daughter will teach you our ways. Learn well, Jhake Sooly and Da’ni. Then we will see if your insanity can be cured.”

With that said Mo’at departed, leaving us standing among the gathered clan.

Our fate had been sealed.

* * *

I found myself alone in a small alcove just outside of Hometree, next to the river we had crossed over earlier.

Neytiri instructed me to bathe and change clothes. She left with Jake to get his wounds he had earned from the viperwolf attack treated and bandaged.

Peeling off my damp and dirty clothes had been the best thing I had done all day. I tossed them into a heap and stepped into the water. It was cold but not freezing like I thought it would be. Actually it felt kinda refreshing on my skin.

I sat in the river and began to scrub off the dirt and sweat I had accumulated from my adventures in the jungle. I was grateful for the bit of privacy even though I worried that someone was going to pop out of the bushes and see me naked.  But at least I had a moment to gather my thoughts on all that had just transpired.

Because _holy shit._

I was going to be living with the Na’vi and studying their ways of life. Me and Jake. I almost couldn’t believe it. It was a researcher’s dream come true!

While I was thrilled that I was going to be learning more about these people I also felt the weight of responsibility on my shoulders. It was gonna be up to me and Jake to rebuild the bridges between the humans and the Na’vi. It was one of the main goals of the avatar program after all.

It wasn’t going to be an easy task, especially since everyone had wanted to kill us until the _Tsahik_ stepped in. We were gonna have to work our asses off to prove that we were trustworthy.

Still I couldn’t wait to see the look on everyone’s faces back at the lab, Grace's especially, after telling them that we were going to be hanging out the the Omaticaya clan.

I rose out of the water, feeling relatively cleaner than I did before. I took a closer look at the Na’vi clothing that Neytiri had given me; a simple, soft green loincloth and kind of halter bra made from pretty aquamarine beads and woven fibers. A few blue and pink feathers were sewn in for decoration.

My lips twisted to the side. Hmm. The top’s flimsiness made me worry. I just hoped it would cover my boobs enough so I wouldn’t accidentally flash somebody. Wouldn't want anyone to be scarred for life or anything.

It took me a few minutes to figure out how to put everything on. My tail got tangled up in the loincloth a few times and it took some adjusting to get my “bra” to stay in place, but I managed to get everything tied together. I had to admit the Na’vi clothing felt a whole lot better than my other clothes. They weren’t scratchy and irritating against my skin. If only I had a mirror to see what I looked like.

I heard footsteps and turned to see Neytiri.

“How do I look?” I asked her, doing a small spin in place to show her my ensemble.

Her golden eyes scanned me up and down before nodding once in approval. “You look acceptable.” She stated.

Satisfied that I looked alright by Na'vi standards, I bent down and picked up my other clothes. “What should I do with these?” I asked.

She held out her hand. “I will take them.”

I handed her the clothes and followed her back to Hometree. Jake was standing outside waiting for us. He had changed clothes too, wearing nothing but a plain blue loincloth. A few large leaves had been plastered onto his arms and chest to cover some of the deeper viperwolf cuts he had gotten.

I could tell he felt uncomfortable wearing close to nothing. Hell, I know I did. Still I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to poke fun at him.

“Hey Tarzan,” I said, smirking when we approached. Neytiri gave me a confused look, not understanding my reference.

Jake rolled his eyes. “Hey Monkey Girl,”

I stuck my tongue out at him.

Neytiri shook her head. “Come,” she urged, “it is time for the evening meal.”

My stomach rumbled at the mention of food, getting a little excited to try some authentic Na’vi cooking. I realized that I had hardly eaten anything all day and man, I was starving!

We accompanied Neytiri back inside Hometree and climbed up the spiral steps to where most of the clan had gathered for dinner. Sweet and spicy scents wafted through the air while everyone crouched around a flickering fire. My ears perked up at the soft sound of someone singing and drumming, giving praise to Eywa for their food.

But the music abruptly stopped the moment we arrived and everyone turned to glare at us.

Well, this was...awkward.

Jake, in his glorious wisdom, thought it’d be a perfect time to crack a joke. You know, break the ice and all.

“Good evening,” he greeted the silent crowd, “please, don’t get up.”

My face burned wildly in embarrassment. Right about now is when I wished I had a cloak of invisibility.

Swallowing, I nudged for Jake to keep moving forward before he could make more of an ass of himself. Not that he was trying to be. But sometimes my brother had an unfortunate talent for putting his foot in his mouth at the worst times.

He lowered his head and followed after Neytiri but not before accidentally stepping on an elderly woman’s tail.  
  
The woman yipped painfully and turned to hiss at him.

" _Ngaytxoa,”_ I murmured to her, apologizing on Jake’s behalf.

She scowled at me in response.

Gradually the music and conversation resumed among the Na'vi. We picked a spot near the fire and crouched down while Neytiri got our food. Next to us sat a man and a little girl who I assumed was his daughter.

“Hey, how ya doin’?” Jake casually asked the man.

He was, of course, ignored.

The little girl, however, eyed us in curiosity. I smiled and winked at her, making her duck shyly behind her dad. Aww! So cute.

Neytiri returned with three large leaf rolls in her hand, one for each of us. I thanked her and unraveled the leaf, revealing a heap of little brown nuggets that looked akin to silk worms.

“What are these?” Jake asked before shoving a handful into his mouth.

“Teylu,” Neytiri replied, glancing at him.

“Taayloo?” He repeated after swallowing his mouthful.

She nodded. “Yes. What you would call ‘beetle larvae’.”

For a second I thought Jake was gonna spit his food back out. Thank god he didn’t ‘cause that would have been super disrespectful.

I held a teylu between my fingers, looking at it warily. I had never eaten a bug before, but since I was hungry as hell I wasn’t going to complain.

So I took a bite.

Actually, it wasn’t that bad. Kinda reminded me of potato chips - really crunchy and a bit salty.

“Do you like it?” Neytiri asked us.

I nodded while Jake answered, “Oh yeah, this is some damn good teylu.” He wagged his eyebrows at her as he popped another grub into his mouth. Was he trying to flirt with her? “Just like grandma’s teylu.”

I snorted, ever so softly.

Pleased with his answer, Neytiri scooped up some of the teylu from her leaf plate and plopped them onto Jake’s, smiling a little.

“Have more,” she said.

Jake glared down at the bugs while I covered my mouth to hide my laughter.

Dinner came to a close and the gathered Na’vi went off to do their own thing, most of them heading further up the tree to go to sleep.

“Come,” Neytiri said as she disposed our empty leaf plates into the fire, “I will show you the way.”

We stood up and began to follow her in the direction most of the Na’vi were headed. As we walked out, I noticed Tsu’tey standing off to the side and speaking with a young woman. Actually it looked like they were having an argument. He scowled, ears pinned back and tail flicking in irritation, while the girl stared back at him in defiance with her hands balled up by her sides.

I felt sorry for the girl. If I had learned anything in the last few hours, it was that Tsu’tey was not someone you wanted to piss off. Bad things would totally happen if you did.

The girl caught me looking at them, her eyes widening with interest when she saw me. She took a step forward like she wanted to talk to me but Tsu’tey stopped her.

“Ma’rali!” He barked warningly.

The girl’s shoulders slumped and she turned in the opposite direction, walking away. Tsu’tey shot me an annoyed look before following the young woman.

Um...

Shrugging, I trailed after Jake and Neytiri.

We climbed higher up into Hometree, where the branches were thicker and the leaves rustled softly in the evening breeze. All around us Na’vi were climbing, leaping, and lowering themselves into hammocks that hung from the branches.

We watched as Neytiri gracefully swung down from the branch we were standing on, effortlessly sliding into an empty hammock.

Jake followed suit, choosing a hammock beside Neytiri. He clumsily climbed down and landed precariously into his new bed.

I gulped nervously as I eyed a hammock next to Jake. _Well this should be fun,_ I thought as I carefully began to lower myself down. But of course my hand slipped on the wood and I ended up tumbling into the hammock.

“Eeep!” I squealed as the hammock swayed beneath me. Man, Neytiri had made it look so easy!

To my left, I heard Jake snickering at me.

“Shut up,” I grumbled as I pulled the protective covering of the hammock into place. The woven materials beneath me were soft and warm yet surprisingly durable. It eased some of my anxiety of falling out in the middle of the night.

I sighed and relaxed into my hammock’s embrace.

“See you on the other side Danny,” I heard Jake say me.

“See ya,” I murmured as I closed my eyes, allowing my consciousness to travel back into my other body.

* * *

“Danny? Danny, can you hear me?” A voice floated to me through the darkness. I forced my eyes open, wincing as the bright lab lights above flooded into my eyes, and saw Norm’s worried face peering down at me.

“S’up Neville?” I croaked.

Relief flooded his features. “She’s awake. Guys, she’s awake!” Before I knew it Norm pulled me out of my link unit and into a bear hug.

“Norm, give her a moment to breathe for goodness sake!” I looked over Norm's shoulder to see Cassie and Shawn standing behind him, both of them looking glad that I was okay.

“Hey guys,” I greeted when Norm let go of me. Man, I was thirsty. And starving (again). Not to mention my body felt super sore and tired like I had ran a marathon to hell and back.

Cassie placed a gentle hand on my shoulder. In her human form, she had dirty blonde hair, grey eyes, and a fair complexion.

“How are you feeling?” She asked.

“Exhausted,” I yawned.

Shawn, who had tousled dark hair and the beginning stages of a beard, crossed his arms and gave me a sympathetic look. “I bet. You gave us quite a scare there, girly.”

I smiled apologetically. “I’m sorry we worried everyone. But wait ‘till you hear what happened. Where’s Grace?”

“She’s checkin’ up on Jake.”

I nodded and stood up from my link mod, my legs wobbling slightly. The four of us made our way over to Jake’s link mod. I got to him just as Max was helping him to sit up while Grace asked if our avatars were safe or not.

“Yeah doc,” Jake laughed, “and you are not gonna believe we are.”

"Where are you?” Grace demanded, her voice tight as she looked at the two of us. “What happened to you out there?”

Jake nodded his head at me. “Tell ‘em, Danny.”

Like I expected everyone’s mouths dropped open in shock when I announced, “The Omaticaya took us in.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Valentine’s Day! I hope you enjoyed this update! Leave a review and let me know your thoughts on the story so far :)
> 
> Na’vi translations:
> 
> Mawey, Na’viya! - Calm, you Na’vi!
> 
> Kelutral - Hometree
> 
> Tsahik - Matriarch, High Priestess, Interpreter
> 
> Olo’eyktan - Clan leader
> 
> Oel ngati kame - I see you
> 
> Uniltìranyu - Dreamwalker / avatar
> 
> Ma ‘ite - My daughter
> 
> Oe pe’un - I (have) decided
> 
> Ngaytxoa - Sorry, my apologies


End file.
